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 "revolutionize" 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."