Jay-Z is one of the 10 Most Fascinating People of 2006, according to Barbara Walters. She featured him on her special last night along with Brad and Angelina, Sacha Baron Cohen, Patrick Dempsey and Anna Wintour. Jay-Z, as usual, did not disappoint. He talked about his painful childhood, rise to fame, and gave some props to Beyonce's behind as well. Here's more:

His father left the family when Jay-Z was 12, and he told Walters that it had a "tremendous" impact on his life.

"I would never let anyone get close to me because of that feeling that I had when my pops left," he said. "I never wanted anyone to get that close to me again."

Jay-Z was a drug dealer as a teenager in the 1980s but gave it up when he discovered what he calls a God-given talent for writing songs.

"I would sit at the kitchen table," he said, "And I would bang on the table these generic beats, and I would write, write, write … write every single day."

He made a demo tape, and after being turned away from every label, he formed his own, Roc-A-Fella records. He released his first album in 1996 and went on to produce an unrivaled string of multiplatinum hits, making hip-hop history.

Even though he didn't want to talk about his personal life with Beyonce, he humored Barbara when she asked him if he thought his girlfriend was "bootylicious." He of course agreed. We're so glad he came out of retirement. We are jamming to Kingdom Come as we write this. It's definitely buzzworthy for sure.

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