(CNN) -- Jay-Z may not be "a huge fan of the [political] system," but the rapper remains a firm supporter of President Barack Obama.
The rapper said Monday in an interview with CNN's Poppy Harlow he knows little of GOP contender Mitt Romney, and considers Obama's announcement of support for states legalizing same-sex marriages to be a political plus.
"I've always thought it as something that was still, um, holding the country back," Jay-Z said of not allowing same-sex coupled to wed. "What people do in their own homes is their business and you can choose to love whoever you love. That's their business. [It] is no different than discriminating against blacks. It's discrimination plain and simple."
The bonds between the rapper and the president go back at least as far as the 2008 campaign, when candidate Obama said the way to handle political mudslinging was by brushing one's shoulders off -- mimicking Jay-Z's trademark move. Jay-Z's hits shuffle on Obama's iPod, he said in July 2010 -- alongside the likes of crooner Frank Sinatra and opera great Maria Callas. The rapper and his wife, Beyonce, visited the White House earlier that year, and their VIP tour included a stop inside the Situation Room.
An entrepreneur and music producer, Jay-Z is wealthy -- just five years ago, he sold his clothing line for $204 million -- and says the president should not be seen as a threat to the business world.
"We should absolutely support business and free enterprise in America, just not criminal activities, you know, unjust practices," he said, adding that "we should help people that are less fortunate than us, and we should all kinda find some balance."
The economic struggles were a test of American "character," he said, suggesting that Obama should be given credit for the current economic picture.
"Reversing the direction of the decline was a full time job in itself, so I think that it's stabilizing a bit now as some of the numbers show," he said.
Jay-Z admitted to being unfamiliar with Romney, and said he did not "want to talk about the man."
The rapper also showed some political savvy, comparing campaign rhetoric to a "hook," the catchy chorus at the core of rap songs.
Politicians "argue points and they forget that at the end of those points are real people, and real people going through real problems. So people put up these talking points and then they say, ok, we got something.
"It's almost like the hook of a song. Like I would go in a studio and say, I have this huge hook," he said. "At the end of [the rhetoric] there's real people."
