Jones: Jackson thought rap was dead

Michael Jackson fired Quincy Jones because he thought the producer was out of touch.

Michael Jackson fired Quincy Jones because he thought the producer was out of touch.

The music veteran - who produced the singer's breakthrough 'Off The Wall' album and 'Thriller', the biggest selling album of all time with the star - says Michael sacked him because Quincy loved rap and the star thought the genre was dead.

He laughed: "Michael fired me. He said, 'Quincy doesn't understand the business any more. He doesn't know that rap is dead'."

However the 77-year-old doesn't hold any grudges.

He said: "But it's OK. It wasn't so obvious then."

Quincy also revealed he thinks rappers could "revolutionise" education.

The music producer - who has worked with superstars such as Akon and U2 singer Bono - said he thinks teenagers should be educated on rappers, and has even put a prospective lesson plan together.

Referring to tragic Columbine high school massacre, he added: "Everywhere in the world, rappers have kids in the palm of their hand.

"I put together a curriculum so schools know who rappers are - so kids don't have to pretend to be Columbine neo-Nazis saying 'Yo homie!' on the internet."

Quincy also admitted he would love a position in Barack Obama's administration to make his rap curriculum dream happen.

He said: "We're the only county with no minister of culture."

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