JAY Z SAY'S OPRAH WAS A BIG REASON HE WROTE HIS BOOK DECODED!

He's a hip hop star, a businessman, an author, and now a public speaker.
Fans waited in line starting at noon on Monday to see Jay-Z speak at the "LIVE from the NYPL" series at the New York Public Library to promote his new book, "Decoded," in stores Tuesday.

Billed as a conversation with Jay-Z, the event featured the Grammy-winning artist fielding questions from both the "LIVE from the NYPL" director Paul Holdengraber and from guest Cornel West, Princeton professor and one-time Prince collaborator.

Both Harry Belafonte and Lupe Fiasco took in the discussion from the front rows, but there was no sign of Jay-Z's wife Beyonce.

Dressed in a suit with an open collar, the artist, whose real name is Shawn Carter, seemed genuinely honored to see Belafonte, but he credited the writing of his book to another African American celebrity.

"Oprah was a big reason I wrote this book," he said. "We had conversations about language and the N word, and while we didn't agree, we left that conversation with a better understanding."

So why did he write his memoir now?

"I want to encourage young artists to not be afraid to use their voices," he told an adoring crowd. "I'm trying to expand the genre of hip hop and keep it truthful."

Not just sticking to his book, Jay-Z covered a wide range of topics, everything from religion to humanity to hustling on a street corner in Brooklyn.

"You have to question everything about life," says the rapper. "I believe in God and for me different religions are all praying to the same God."

He even dished on the ways the Internet has affected the music business.

"The Internet was a way for the music industry to purge itself," he said. "It brings music back to its core, when we used to perform on street corners for pennies and nickles."

But while many of the questions probed Jay-Z's creative process and his emotional core, not everything was formal and serious.

"My song 'Big Pimpin' isn't profound," he said. "But it's fun."