Jay-Z Calls Criticism of Pres. Obama 'Fair'

During a private listening of "Watch The Throne," his collaborative album with Kanye West, on Thursday night (July 7) at New York's Mercer Hotel, Jay-Z was asked for his reaction to recent criticism of President Obama, who he has publicly supported in the past.

Speaking to a small room of music journalists just hours before the Labor Department released its monthly jobs report, which found national unemployment numbers rising to 9.2 percent in the month of June, Jay-Z said of the criticism, "He's the president, it's fair."

'Watch The Throne': Inside Jay-Z's Private Listening Session

"You gotta fix [the country's current climate]," Jay-Z continued. "Can't fix it all in one day. Numbers don't lie, it's f*cked up out there. Unemployment is still high."

Jay-Z then proceeded to joke about how Obama should have allowed him to deliver the news of Osama Bin Laden's death on May 1. Acting as if he were speaking at a press conference, Jay-Z adopted the accent of a street tough and said, "He was a threat, you know what I mean? We handled that." He delivered the line and laughed.

Click here to check out a full recap of the "Watch The Throne" listening and Jay-Z's chat about the highly anticipated album.