Jay-Z Responds to MC Hammer Slam

Jay-Z is a man who picks his battles carefully. So when he went after MC Hammer, of all people, last month in his verses on Kanye West's "So Appalled" — "Hammer went broke so you know I'm more focused /I lost 30 mil' so I spent another 30/ 'Cause unlike Hammer 30 million can't hurt me" — it seemed out of character.

Hammer did not take it lying down. In the "Better Run Run" video released early Monday morning, the MC accuses Jigga of being in league (and in the studio) with Satan — and then Hammer defeats the devil and forces Jay to be baptized.

In an interview with BBC's DJ Semtex this week, Jay said he didn't mean the verses as a personal attack.

"I didn't know that [Hammer's financial status] wasn't on the table for discussion!" he said (he laughs or sounds like he's smiling throughout nearly the entire interview). "I didn't know I was the first person ever to say that — I'm not, am I?"

He continued a bit more seriously, "When I say things, I think people believe me so much that they take it a different way — it's, like, not rap anymore at that point."

Photos: Hip-Hop Royalty: How Jay-Z and Beyonce Run This Town

He added: "I say some great things about him in the book I have coming out [Decoded] — that's wasn't a cheap plug," he laughed. "He's gonna be embarrassed, I said some really great things about him and people's perception of him.

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"But it is what it is, he took it that wrong way, and I didn't know I said anything wrong!"

DJ Semtex

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Song Stories

“Time to Pretend”

MGMT | 2008

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”

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