Hip-hop mogul Jay-Z hates hearing how his rap contemporaries "keep it hood", because he's convinced no one would voluntarily return to their poverty-stricken past in the streets.

The Big Pimpin' hitmaker, real name Shawn Carter, is often criticized himself for living the high life and failing to keep in touch with his roots - the deprived Bedford-Stuyvesant district of Brooklyn, New York.

But he is unfazed by the remarks, because he is adamant no rap star would give up the luxuries fame has afforded them to go back to living in the ghetto.

He says, "I think it's more important for me to be in touch with who I am than in touch with the streets, per se. Being in touch with the streets, keeping it real, that's become a lie and a cliche.

"I'm not hanging on the corner in the Bed-Stuy. I hate it when rappers say, 'I'm keeping it hood.' I'm like, 'Why? What do you mean? No one's there by choice! You're in the hood, by choice?!'"

- Jay-Z Gallery

(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)