LONDON: Rapper Jay-Z feels sad that some people were offended by his low-key 2008 marriage to Beyonce Knowles.

Jay-Z was sad some people were offended by his low-key marriage to Beyonce Knowles.

While the couple wanted to keep the big day secret to avoid unwanted attention, the rapper admits some friends and family were disappointed not to receive an invite.

He told TV host Oprah Winfrey in an interview for O magazine: "Very few people knew about it. The sad part is that we offended some.

"But people who love you understand because, at the end of the day, it's your day."

After the small ceremony - held in April 2008 at Jay's penthouse apartment in New York - the newlyweds threw a lavish party, attended by Beyonce's parents, Tina and Mathew Knowles, her sister Solange, Destiny's Child bandmates Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams and their actress friend Gwyneth Paltrow.

The 'Hard Knock Life' hitmaker also opened up about his tough childhood growing up in New York's Brooklyn district, and how he pledged to give back to the community where he grew up if he ever escaped his impoverished background.

Explaining how he felt drug dealing was a "natural" course for him to take, he said: "If anyone did become something like a lawyer or doctor or something like that, they moved out.

"They never came back to share the wisdom of how they made it. If anyone made it, you never knew it. That's why I always said if I became successful, I'd come back here, grab somebody, and show him how it can be done."