It’s officially “Jay-Z?Day” in the media. Catching up with Hova in Phildelphia after announcing his?“Made In America”?music festival,?CNN (yep, C.N.N.)?asked?the rapper/mogul about Barack Obama’s open?support of gay marriage.

“I’ve always thought it as something that was still, um, holding the country back,” said Jay-Z about same-s-x couple not being allowed to legally marry. “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.”

A long time Obama supporter, the “99 Problems” rapper is still?in the POTUS’ corner; particularly so when it comes to what Obama has done to help the ailing economy (which Jay says is a “test of our character”) he inherited.?”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,” said Jigga.

Watch Jay-Z’s chat with CNN and his thoughts on politics and “talking points” below and on the next page.

On another note …

Earlier this morning in a not so sunny day in Philadelphia, we all now have heard the news of?Jay-Z?holding a press conference announcing his two day musical festival on Labor Day Weekend entitled?Made In America.?It started out all good at first, and even the biggest rap snobs were ecstatic to see former Roc-A-Fella artist and Philly native,?Freeway,?on stage with Jigga.

But then that’s when things got awkward. Check the pics lol