Rapper Jay-Z has spoken about the enormous impact he believes hip hop has had on racial relations in America, saying he feels the music has done more than most cultural icons to bring people together. The 45 year old was speaking on the latest episode of Oprah Winfrey's ‘Master Class’ series on her OWN network.

Jay-ZJay-Z has spoken about hip hop's cultural impact

"I have a very interesting take on the cultural impact of hip hop and it's a strong one, so I just want to prepare people at home,” began the rapper. "I think that hip hop has done more for racial relations than most cultural icons. And I say save Martin Luther King because his 'Dream' speech we realised and President Obama got elected, but the impact of the music, this music didn't only influence kids from urban areas; it influenced people around the world. People listen to this music all around the world and took to this music.”

More: Beyonce Shares Snaps From Magical Iceland Holiday With Husband Jay-Z

The rapper and media mogul went on to say that he believes racism is taught in the home, adding “I truly believe that racism is taught when you're young, so it's very difficult to teach racism when your kid looks up to Snoop Doggy Dogg.”

Jay-Z, real name Shawn Carter, then said one only has to look at the clubs to see just how much music has been able to break down barriers. "If you look at clubs and how integrated they have become – before people partied in separate clubs, there were hip-hop clubs and techno clubs – and now people party together," Carter said.

More: Jay-Z & Beyonce Reportedly Lose Bidding War As Beverly Hills Mansion Sells For Record Breaking $70 Million To Minecraft Creator Markus Persson

"Once you have people partying, dancing, singing along to the same music, conversation naturally happen after that, and within conversation we all realise we're more alike than we're separate," he added.