Video: Jay-Z Explains Why He Didn’t Do “We Are The World 25″

At Jay-Z & LeBron’s 4th annual All-Star weekend “Two Kings” dinner, MTV asked Jay why he (wisely) chose not to participate in the We Are The World remake.

I have a interesting take on that. I know everybody is gonna take this wrong: “We Are the World,” I love it, and I understand the point and think it’s great. But I think “We Are the World” is like “Thriller” to me. I don’t ever wanna see it touched. I’m a fan of music. I know the plight and everything that’s going on in Haiti. I applaud the efforts. Like 1 out of 2 Americans donated through text to Haiti. That’s amazing. So I appreciate the efforts and everything, but “We are the World” is untouchable like “Thriller” is untouchable. Some things are just untouchable. It was a valiant effort, but for me, it’s gonna be untouchable.

Jay said he felt that a new song should have been written instead:

I would have loved that idea better. I have tremendous respect for Quincy Jones. Of course, I think he’s genius, as everyone else does. But I think it’s time for us to make a new song, our take on it… I tried to do that with “Stranded” [the song Jay, Rihanna and U2's Bono and The Edge premiered at the 'Hope for Haiti Now' telethon.]