Jay-Z: It don't bother me. I accept the challenge. I think I can hold my own, as far as challenging rappers. [RealVideo]

MTV: Nas recently took a shot at you. A lot of people think the top dogs always battle. Is it something serious, or is this going to stay strictly on wax?

Jay-Z: We're not stupid people. If these guys really had a problem with me — outside of me as a hot rapper — I'm sure they wouldn't put it on records. That wouldn't make sense to me. That's how I know it's just music. Once it comes out on a CD or a mixtape for the whole world to hear it and know that you have a problem with this person, then I know there's nothing there.

MTV: Are you and DMX at odds at all?

Jay-Z: Nah. I actually spoke to DMX on the phone. We go back a long way, battling on the pool table. There's a huge mutual respect level there. Everyone's in contact with each other. It's not like we don't see or don't speak to each other. I really like it like this in a weird way, because it's just a feeling that people be feeling inside. [Sometimes] they be around and they give you five and they hug you and [say], "Yo, we should just do this together. [We're] unstoppable." [That's] not real. I'd rather just be real, man.

MTV: You brought Michael Jackson to Hot 97's Summer Jam. How did you get that hooked up?

Jay-Z: I just asked him.

MTV: Did you have a relationship with him before that?

Jay-Z: Yeah, we've been talking about doing a remix on his album for "You Rock My World." We were talking on the phone, and he was talking about "Hard Knock Life" one day. He was talking about how in the pocket it was. I was looking at the phone like, "That's bugged out!" He's like, "Boom, ba, boom." I mean the rhythms, the way he was rapping, was so in the pocket. I'm like, "This is Michael Jackson!" So I just asked him and he was like, "Cool."

MTV: You're also working on a duet with him for your album, right?

Jay-Z: I'm gonna hold it out. It's not going to make the album. I'm probably gonna put it on the album around Christmas, like an added bonus. Because it's a special song.

MTV: Are you going to tour for this album?

Jay-Z: I got a ballroom tour going out at the same time as the album. I'm just gonna go to venues that hold 3,000-4,000 people. I've been doing shows for 20,000 people, and you can't even see everybody. It's cool and I appreciate the energy, but sometimes you want to be able to look upstairs and see everybody. Before every album I try to go back into the clubs and play the smaller venues so I can get that intimate vibe back.

MTV: You're also working with Timbaland again.

Jay-Z: Yeah, I love working with Timbaland. Me and him go in the studio with no track, no lyrics. We just sit there and [say], "Wassup?"

MTV: He doesn't just fly you out a track?

Jay-Z: Right there he just starts making it up. [I'm like], "Yeah, yeah, I like that one. Let's work on that one." If he makes the track in 15 minutes, I'm trying to finish it in 10. That's our thing. We're over there racing.

MTV: Is this your last album?