''He's Like One of My Favorites...''
2:00PM ET November 24th, 2012
Contributor : Erica Moore
A Rocky Williform Company

Miley Cyrus' credibility in hip hop circles has gone up in recent years, what with her Nicki Minaj Halloween costume and Twitter flirtation with Mack Maine--but the former Disney teen queen wasn't always so rap-friendly. She credited her hit "Party In the U.S.A." with helping her branch out. Specifically, the song's Jay-Z reference actually forced her to become a little more familiar with Hov's work.

"He's like one of my favorites," Cyrus said, referring to Jay. "Actually, when I first did the ['Party In The U.S.A.'] song, I wasn't really a big fan of Jay-Z. I was younger, I didn't care. And now I'm like, 'Yeah!' I'm happy [I got] introduced to Jay-Z because now I get, like, street cred for that song. There's been so many videos, so many funny videos. You should Google it right now, 'Party In The U.S.A.' campaign videos on YouTube, so many people have made [President] Obama sing it, moving his mouth to sing it and singing it to each other, it's so funny. I'm like, that's so weird."