President Barack Obama's Parenting Advice to Jay-Z: Help Beyoncé Out

By Alison Schwartz

10/21/2012 at 11:00 AM EDT

Jay-Z and President Barack Obama

Steve Mack/FilmMagic; Frank Polich/Landov

As a new dad, Jay-Z received some parenting advice from a guy who knows a thing or two about being the man of the house.

The White House, that is.

President Barack Obama, who has two daughters, Malia, 14, and Sasha, 11, with wife and First Lady Michelle, offered Beyoncé's husband some words of wisdom upon the birth of the couple's daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, in January.

"We talk about the same things I talk about with all my friends. We talk about the kids," Obama tells Cleveland's Z107.9. "I made sure that Jay-Z was helping Beyoncé out [with the baby] and not leaving it all to mom and the mother-in-law."

Besides, as Obama expressed last month, the two men have plenty in common. "Jay knows what my life is like," he previously said. "We both have daughters and our wives are more popular than we are."

Aside from being friends "over the last several years," Obama tells Z107.9, his family also considers themselves fans of the musical powerhouses, whom he calls "good people" and "down-to-earth folks."

"Beyoncé could not be sweeter to Michelle and the girls," says Obama, who's gearing up for the Nov. 6 election. "The girls are big Beyoncé fans."