As Jay-Z [1] got prepared for his big charity show at New York's Madison Square Garden on Sept. 11, he sat down for a video interview with Billboard.com in conjunction with Fuse [2] to share his thoughts on the state of his world and work, from Barack Obama's election and the evolution of hip-hop to the spirit of competition that fueled the making of his hot new album, "The Blueprint 3" -- released several days early on Sept. 8. [3]

Watch the Jay-Z interview above.

Fans at Jay-Z's surprise free New York concert on Wednesday [4] (Sept. 9) night chanted "f*ck T-Pain [5]!" after Jay-Z performed "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)," from the brand new album. But, as the megastar rapper was quick to point out in our video interview, the point wasn't to hate his musical peers. Jay-Z gives T-Pain -- who popularized the voice-enhancer in hip-hop and took aim at Jay-Z during a recent performance in Las Vegas -- kudos for his "fantastic records."

"'Death of Auto-Tune' was a rally call --it was angry because it was like, 'Ok, enough of that. Let's go! Let's go! We've done that -- we've heard those records," Jay-Z said in the interview. "T-pain -- fantastic records. Kanye [6] -- great. But, let's go, enough of that. Let them do that if that's what they want to continue to do, and let's go here."

LISTEN TO 'THE BLUEPRINT 3' FREE HERE [7]
Jay-Z Chart History [8] | Jay-Z Artist Info [1]

In the interview, Jay-Z also dives into what the new president means to him ("the day Barack Obama was elected, gangsta became less relevant," he says) and the future of hip-hop. "As hip-hop evolves," he says, "subject matter has to evolve as well."

As previously reported Jay-Z will be performing tonight (Sept. 11) at Madison Square Garden with all proceeds going to "Answer The Call: New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund." Fans can watch the concert live on Fuse [2] tonight beginning at 9 PM EST. Fuse will also air "Jay-Z: Conversations In Hip-Hop" tonight at 8:30 PM EST. "The Blueprint 3" is predicted to top the Billboard 200 chart next week [9], with prognosticators suggesting a bow of anywhere from 350,000 to 500,000 copies.