Jay-Z has broken cover and commented on criticism directed his way ahead of his headline appearance at this coming weekend's Glastonbury Festival.
With celebrities like Noel Gallagher saying there's no place for hip-hop at Glasto, Jay-Z - real name Shawn Carter - spoke to Radio 1's Rap Show at the weekend:
"It's ridiculous, if we don't embrace what is new, then how do we progress? I've never actually experienced anything like that before. It's 2008, what is that about? That's such old school thinking, that's not even how the world thinks anymore. So I was really taken aback [by the criticism].
"These barriers that they have are only put up there to separate us. They are there so people have a way of filing the music but that's not the way kids today listen to music. I listen to all types of music and that's what should happen, that's what the world should be about, mixing culture. There's only good music and bad music."
Go, Jigga. If you're missing Glasto - don't worry, it's all over the BBC - then you can catch Jay-Z at this year's Wireless Festival in London instead. That's where DiS will be.
- - -
If I was going to Glastonbury
I would be going to see him. His show will be pretty special, and he's got a big back catalogue with plenty of gems in it. And good on him for what he said.
i am
mad looking forward to seeing him.
If we don't embrace what is new?
Hip-Hop is new?
Thing is, no-one has any tiny little inch of an issue about the fact a rapper is at Glastonbury. Dizzy Wanker plays all the time, but no-one gives a fuck. Its the fact he's there instead of someone on the scale of Bowie, McCartney or, as is the case here, David Gilmour.
Let's face it, he's not gonna have half as much of the crowd the Verve or even KOL are gonna have, is he? And its not because we're all Nazis (although I am a bit). Its because a lot of people don't like rap.
Basically, THIS would have been the best idea = no Panic At The Disco. Jay Z on the Other Stage. Gilmour on the Pyramid. Win.
Gilmour is a boring old fuck
"a lot of people dont like rap"
I think most popular charts would disagree with you.
a lot of people don't like past-it musicians doing retro sets (see Rod Stewart, McCartney, Gilmour, Bowie)
The truth is, whether you are a fan or not, Jay Z is a massive massive star who is still producing albums that sell in their millions, has a back catalogue a lot of people know, and will probably pull of a great set.
skunk anansie fucking headlined one year! it's not an issue. qidjaqiowfjji
"a lot of people dont like rap"
I think most popular charts would disagree with you.
a lot of people don't like past-it musicians doing retro sets (see Rod Stewart, McCartney, Gilmour, Bowie)
The truth is, whether you are a fan or not, Jay Z is a massive massive star who is still producing albums that sell in their millions, has a back catalogue a lot of people know, and will probably pull of a great set.
skunk anansie fucking headlined one year! it's not an issue. qidjaqiowfjji
"most pop charts would disagree with you"
Singles. Bought by whom these days? Kids, chavs, people who don't generally go to music festivals? I think so.
Basically, the fact tickets haven't sold proves me right. Having Gilmour on the Pyramid and Jay Z on the Other would please everyone.
On one hand it'd please people like you who like rap music, and on the other hand, it would sell ALL the tickets to people with taste. Am I right? Or am I right?
What's your name, Noel?
Not everybody who listens to rap is a kid. Take the condescension to a dark room and listen to Pink Floyd or something. Old man!
SeewhatIdid?
Jay-Z is by far the best headliner
The Verve are boring MOR with a cock for a lead singer, and Kings of Leon are good but not exactly setting the world alight, or really headlining material. Jay Z on the other hand has sold millions of albums, is critically acclaimed. Basically he's better.
Dizzy Rascal
is garage not hip hop. And (groan) the genre is not called rap, calling it so is a dead giveaway.
Bowie, McCartney, Gilmour: ready for the glue factory.
I thought 'garage' was The Dovers and The Count Five.
I'm so unhip aren't I?
Dizzee Rascal
makes grime not garage, well he calls it grime at least...
KOL are a terrible live band
They bored the shit out of me at Leeds. They did absolutely nothing on stage. AT ALL.
They did really well at Reading
and even better at Brighton Center, they are becomming a pahnomenal live band for festivals, arenas and soon stadiums
^ this
KOL were amazing at Reading I thought, should have headlined
I won't watch KoL.
I saw them on the Aha Shake tour and that was enough. They were brilliant but I'd only seen Franz Ferdinand and Razorlit so I wasn't as educated.
pfft
most people i've spoken to said they're going to watch him.
You live in London though.
Full of people who'll stop listening to music when they turn 40.
:D
Yep
same here
I think
he was responding more to the Noel Gallagher-type remarks, saying "I will not have" hip hop at glastonbury.
So that "no-one has any tiny little inch of an issue about the fact a rapper is at Glastonbury" is wrong, as Noel does.
The tickets sales and crowd thing is a whole different issue really, which Mr Z does not address here.
No gallagher, no problem
a principle to which I adhere.
I don't think its wrong. He was referring to the fact he's on the Pyramid Stage. Nobody is ever
going to convince me that it was a good idea.
I don't see the problem though. Have Jay Z clashing with Gilmour. Fucking perfect. Everyone's happy.
Boring losers with shit music tastes like me, and cool up-and-coming people who appreciate melody a lot less than me.
If it's merely his status that you have an issue with,
how are The Verve and Kings of Leon alright to headline in your book? Jay-Z has 10 times the profile of Kings of Leon, and has sold many million more albums than The Verve
If you're looking for a worthy headliner at Glastonbury, you can't go wrong with Jay-Z
If it's purely because he's a rapper, then people can just watch something else and stop crying about it, no? I'm sure those people who are objecting to this so strongly will be comforted by The Enemy, Scouting For Girls etc. Y'know, REAL music, with GUITARS
lol.
"Y'know, REAL music, with GUITARS"
Pretty sickening.
I challenge you to ask 30 people in the street if they could name a Jay Z song or a Verve song.
KOL can't do it. I agree.
Jay Z might be able to do it - but I've never fucking heard him. I listened to him properly for the first time watching that video. For the record, I think its sewage.
The Verve CAN do it.
It doesn't matter how many millions of albums he's sold. The people buying his albums aren't interested in slogging around in mud for a week.
HOW DO PEOPLE NOT REALISE THIS!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Jay-Z
'99 Problems'
Many people know this.
Or maybe a song like 'Bonnie and Clyde' which he did with Beyonce.
Or even bit part roles on, like, Rihanna songs.
The Verve...
The thing is, if we're going for 'the average festival goer' here... well, I think if I asked 30 people on the street they may only know 'Bitter Sweet Symphony'.
The " I've never fucking heard him"
argument is pretty pointless, your ignorance doesn't have anything to do with anything!
It does, my man
because I'm the voice of many.
Believe.
Righto
Thats something to be proud of!
hip hop is "new"
to glastonbury.
not to anything else though. so. it's. about. fucking. time. aye.
Beastie Boys
played in 1994
big pimpin
is SO GOOD
^ this
"take em' out the hood, keep em' lookin' good, but I don't fuckin' feed em'!"
I'm not Jay-Z's biggest fan
And I don't think he has the presence to be headlining Glasto.
But... I think he's on the right track with some of his criticism. Glasto is a pop festival and should get the cream of the crop from all popular music genres to play there.
I'll probably go see him
But then I am street, innit.
^ hes the most interesting thing on the mainstage
if we are honest
But
Shakin' Stevens is on the main stage!
I'm not a businessman.
I'm a business, man. Let me handle my business, damn.
Hove is always right.
I have to listen to that song now
Chan, you are quite possibly the coolest girl who is friends with Adam.
East Sussex is always right
IT'S NOT MUSIC
IT'S JUST TALKING
Rap
Music with a few classic exceptionss eg old school classics like sugarghill gang ,grandmaster flash etc and some Of Eminem which has incredibly clever lyricd and msuic to match has nothing intersting to say and no music of note to go with it !!Its all about bitches bling guns drugs and crime . Unfortunately its influence has spread to the mainly black undereducated classes in the uk cities today hence the current spate of stabbings/shootings are certainly influenced by rap music in some way !!Im not in favour of censorship but like amy winebag and pete dickhead it certianly doesnt deserve the press and publicity it gets !! Gilmour is a classic quality rock musician that Jaz Z coul;d never be !!I think we're witnessing the end of of glastonbury festival as it was this year !!Jay z is at rock werchte in belgium half way down the bill where he should be -REM Radiohead underworld chemical brothers even deus are all rated higrer than him there and rightly so !! That's why im going there and not Glasto -you can stick that overrated mudbath right it up your arse now for all i care !!
yer lol
rap is rubbis innit lol m8! pink floyd r da best!!!!11!
Christ alive, what a cunt.
^ reads the daily mail and is stuck in 1978
i dont do either
I tell it like it is which is why most of the current youth havn't got a f**ing clue about music as they been brainwashed by the liberal do gooders at the bbc !!
!!
But you clearly don't know anything about underground hip hop
of which the is plenty of intelligant lyrics being written with interesting production choices and so forth making it as dynamic as rock music. Your focusing on Gangsta Rap, but Jay Z know how to lay down some good hooks and is by far the most interesting spectical on the mainstage this year.
You are
right - i no nowt about underground hip-hop yet can you loads about rock n roll 60's soul,blues,jazz reaggae heavy rock ,motown ,most indi bands , folk,punk n oi music etc ete but very little about rap !! This because i'm not a particular fan of the genre unless its incerdibly well done and i think there are generally speaking lots of better genres of music out there .But mostly its the aspiration of gangsta lifestle that puts me and millions of others off this type of music !!
which is fair.
Its FINE not to like a certain type of music.
Only, on here, if liking it makes you seem very tolerant and liberal, its not fine. It means you're racist, or xenophobic.
I totally agree with you. I listen to this guy, and I don't hear any tune. So I listen to his lyrics. He's talking about 'pimping'.
It says nothing to me about my life. And thank fuck.
Yes it is
But:
"Its all about bitches bling guns drugs and crime . Unfortunately its influence has spread to the mainly black undereducated classes in the uk cities today hence the current spate of stabbings/shootings are certainly influenced by rap music in some way !!"
Is a horrifically xenophobic and offensive way to put it.
Also, calling Gilmour a classic musician is hilarious. The guy's a complete arsehole who wrote the wanky parts of Pink Floyd. I like PF to a degree, but Gilmour is a terrible excuse of a musician.
I don't think its xenophobic or offensive to be honest.
You're all happy to refer to stuff like the Twang as chavrock or whatever. Its the same principle.
As for David Gilmour being "a terrible excuse of a musician" - I'm not at all a big fan of the post-67 Pink Floyd - but I think we'll have to agree to disagree here.
"Jay Z is great.
Gilmour is a terrible excuse of a musician."
:(
Gilmour's a great musician.
so FUCKING what?
You need to sort out this "appreciating 'music' is uncool, but appreciating 'culture' isn't" attitude.
I know absolutely fuck-all about rap. I don't want to know about it because it doesn't appeal to me. I don't care if anyone else likes it - I don't.
And, as you can see, the majority of the Glastonbury faithful don't either.
Now, think what you like about people who shockingly aren't as hugely open-minded as you, but the fact is, this fucking moronic decision is going to lose Eavis lots of money. And quite fucking rightly. He took the risk, it didn't pay off. Now he's gonna have to pick up the pieces.
Basically, what us lot think of Jay Z is irrelevant. As the lad says up there, if he was lower down, or on another stage, maybe. Its just a WRONG decision to make. There's no two ways about it. If he does this again, he'll kill the festival. He's a senile old mentalist who needs locking away before he ruins the only festival worth going to.
I normally agree with you on most things,
but you're so, so wrong about this
It's ONE headliner, on ONE stage. What's the problem? Nearly everyone I've spoke to that's going is pretty excited about seeing Jay-Z. Are you honestly hugely excited about seeing Kings of Leon? Really? Because you can could have seen them at almost any UK festival over the last few years
Jay-Z is offering something different for people that want to see something different. Without engaging in all the 'Glastonbury magic' bullshit, what other festival is more suited to embracing something a little bit different?
And Eavis is killing the festival by not putting enough people like Jay-Z on, and by filling the two main stages with Radio One playlist shite
But you contradict yourself with this argument.
On one hand, its "Jay Z has sold millions more albums than either the Verve or KoL." and on the other its "trying something different"?
Trying something different to what? Apparently, Jay Z is some worldwide superstar. Its hardly the alternative, is it? He's playing at pretty much every festival under the sun this year.
I pick Glastonbury as my festival because it goes where others don't. It books Neil Diamond, Jimmy Cliff, Solomon Burke, while also modern bands I like such as MGMT, and then millions of unheard of jazz/samba/whatever acts that I get excited about. Its 'eclectic' (sorry).
This guy's music is the music I hear coming from scrotums' phones on buses. I want to escape it. Its what I hear at work on Radio 1. And now its got arguably the major slot at the biggest festival in the world. Not on.
As I've said, any other stage, any other time, maybe. Headlining Saturday night? No thanks.
What I hear at Radio One is R and B and The Courteeners followed by MGMT
so many things you say
make me so angry...
Good.
The idea that somebody I've never met, nor ever will meet, sitting seething with rage at his computer screen because of something I've said is still pretty amusing after three years.
what what with the what now?
his basic sentiment, I think, is:
I appreciate music on its merits as music, as opposed to enjoying what I'm supposed to.
Hell in a handcart
And it is we the taxpayer footing the bill. Or something.
..........
.
I am seriously considering
watching JayZ at Glasto. It'll be funs.
do not consider.
do.
I am SO excited about seeing him at Wireless.
Don't.
I will be nowhere near that stage when Jay Z is on. A) because he is shit and should not be there, and B) Massive Attack are on the Other Stage at the same time.
:O You don't like Jay Z?
- You're close-minded
- You're probably xenophobic
- Massive Attack? Stop being stuck in 1994
- Your attitude is worrying and disturbing and mortifying and wibbling
This whole saga is pretty pantomime.
The fact that this even causes debate makes me want to eat my own feet.
^this
It's pretty worrying.
"worrying"
What else have we had? I think Chris Martin said "disturbing" didn't he?
lol
i agree with bamos
the fact that someone like NFwrightylew would try and shunt one of the most successful artists and one of the most widely liked artists to the Other Stage is not even remotely surprising.
i don't go much for rap music, but of course Jay-Z should play the Main Stage, and of course it isn't an issue unless you're a braindead ladrock dickstick
Best thing at Glasto
Jay-Z
Leonard Cohen
Brian Jonestown Massacre
Los Campesinos!
The Black Lips
home.
jay z is gonna be amazing
and i really dont get what all the fuss is about.
i was at V last year (audience wise quite similar to glastonbury these days) and during Kayne West's set he said:
"Anyone wanna hear some tunes by my boss?"
The crowd cheered, then his dj went on to play whole bunch of jay z tunes all mixed together for about 5 minutes. It literally went off. People loved it.
I cant see how this audience will be that different at glastonbury. Its going to be brilliant. Hopefully i can watch it without falling to some lefty bbc conspiracy and manage not to go and stab someone after the show aswell. I can but wish.
Right, someone needs to explain this very clearly.
"I cant see how this audience will be that different at glastonbury."
Wrong.
It does NOT take a genius to realise what the general crowd at Glastonbury is.
You 'liberally-minded' people will no doubt ironically write the usual Glastonbury lovers as 'close-minded borings' because they don't happen to like this one artist, but that's basically it!
How do I know this? Because every year someone huge and old plays, however unfashionable they may be to you bunch of uber-cool trendsetters (that was sarcasm), tickets sell out.
If The Stones had played, tickets would have sold out within the hour. Same with Gilmour, maybe not as fast.
Its not rocket science :(.
- Hiphop has been around for decades. Its not new.
- Hiphop has been at Glastonbury for many, many years. Its not new.
- No-one has a problem with this guy BEING at Glasto. Their problem is with him being picked as the top star of the thing, instead of somebody they actually like.
As I've said before, whether or not you're unfashionable enough to appreciate Gilmour, the Glastonbury 'faithful' DO appreciate people like him.
You're all morons.