JAY-Z AT GLASTONBURY: THE ANALYSIS

This performance was probably the most anticipated Hip-Hop show to ever take place. It was reminiscent of the film ‘When We Were Kings’, there was a real sense of drama and suspense building up to this event.

Was this musical rascism? was Noel justified in what he was saying, could Jay-z pull it off?

180,000 people standing around in a field of mud, 1 band, 1 MC.
There is no doubt that Jay-z smashed it and silenced the critics.
Check out the blueprint of his show, i’ve broken down the set list track by track, and applied a Swagger rating to each joint.

THE WONDERWALL INTRO
Starting the show with his cover of ‘Wonderwall’ by Oasis was genius.
It was a sportsman type response to Noel Gallagher’s rants. Jay could have easily brutalised Noel lyrically, but instead he took their hot song, and made it his hot song.
He also guaranteed the attention and applause of the Festival crowd from the minute he stepped on stage.

Advantage Carter! Listen to the crowd response. It was game set and match from this point. He won!
Swagger Rating: Severe

99 PROBLEMS
Jay-z went for the jugular with an AC-DC rocked out version of this track. He showed he wasn’t playing. Even the crowd went in one this one.
Swagger Rating: Severe

IS THAT YOUR CHICK
He was clearly going for it, he flipped ‘Is That Your Chick’, by using ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ by the Prodigy, a festival classic. This was a very good move, but at the end of Jay’s track he should have let the the Prodigy joint play out.
Swagger Rating: High

REHAB
There were 2 issues with this:
1. He could have bought Amy onstage to do this, as she was on the same stage 20 minutes earlier.
2. Should he have performed this at this point in the set, even though she was on stage 20 minutes earlier?
Swagger Rating: High

I KNOW
I don’t think he should have done this, at this stage in the set. He had a very energetic start which was need, I think this kinda slowed down the pace of the show.
Swagger Rating: Guarded

A BILLIE (A MILLIE FREESTYLE)
A classic freestyle, but middle England isn’t up on this joint yet. May have gone over the heads of the festival crowd, but they loved the acappella part of it.
Swagger Rating: Elevated

BLUE MAGIC
He should have done ‘Roc Boys’, it would have got a much bigger response.
Swagger Rating: Guarded

MINORITY REPORT
The crowd were into the acappella’s, they probably thought they were watching a poetry recital…..which it is in a way, but you know what i’m saying.

As with the recent U.S. shows, at the end of this track a massive image of George Bush was shown across the screen. People started booing.
Then Jay announced that it was ‘time for change’ and a massive image of Barack Obama appeared and everyone started cheering.

I’ve been covering the influence of Hip-Hop and Obama on my 1xtra shows in great detail. It’s gonna be interesting to see the UK media’s response to Jay-z’s open endorsement of the Democratic Presidential nominee.
Swagger Rating: Severe

PSA
Ahhhh, Jigga is getting back into the rawness. One of my favourite Jigga tracks of all time. He killed them with this one.
Swagger Rating: Severe

DIRT OF YA SHOULDER
He performed the Linkin Park version, which is cool, but you cant beat the intensity of the original version. The original version just pounds when you hear it through a proper sound system.
Swagger Rating: High

ORIGINATOR 99 [JIGGA WHAT, JIGGA WHO]
One of his all time classics.
Swagger Rating: Severe

H TO THE IZZO
A festival crowd, Michael Jackson sample, and Hov onstage. You know its a wrap.
Swagger Rating: Severe

CAN I GET A
Not sure if this fitted in with tonights set, with everything else that he was doing onstage.
Swagger Rating: Elevated

BEWARE OF THE BOYS
Festival classic, any crowd can get down to this.
Swagger Rating: Severe

GIVE IT TO ME
There were rumours that Pharrell was back stage, etc. but obviously Hov wanted to do this himself tonight.
Swagger Rating: High

SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT
At this point in the show, it kinda felt like he was getting a little overwhelmed by the crowds response. Hov can go anywhere in the World, and if 10,000 of his hardcore fans are in the building, he has the swagger and the nonchalance for the entire set. I think this was a totally different experience for him.

EXCUSE ME MISS
This was a little to mellow compared to the original version. He should have just blazed the more rowdy joints.
Swagger Rating: Guarded

SONG CRY
I was wating for Gwyneth Paltrow on this one, as she absolutely killed this when she performed it with Jay at the Royal Albert Hall a few years ago.
Not tonight though, it was Jay by himself onstage tonight.
Swagger Rating: High

GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS
Swagger Rating: High

AMERICAN BOY REMIX
The verse was ill, but he could have bought Estelle onstage. He’s in our Country, She’s from our Country, and Estelle was at Glastonbury the day before. it would have said a lot had he bought her onstage.
Im not saying he needed her, but it would have been nice.
Jay repeated the verse via acapella to break it down. The Sun newspaper gets a shout out too.
Swagger Rating: Severe

UMBERELLA
One of the biggest Pop hits of 07′. You cant go wrong with this one.
Swagger Rating: Severe

BIG PIMPIN’
No matter where you are in the world, this joint is a banger.
Swagger Rating: Severe

HARD KNOCK LIFE
He had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hands with this one.
Swagger Rating: Severe

HEART OF THE CITY
He flipped this with a sample from U2′s ‘Bloody Sunday’. Im not sure if this was the right thing to do, or if it worked musically.
Swagger Rating: Elevated

ENCORE
The Linkin Park mash up of ‘Encore’ is the only way to end a set, and it was blatantly obvious that he had smashed it. At the end, you could tell by Jigga’s voice that he was emotional.

Even though he’s at the top of the game, this event was a real to challenge to him. He didn’t need to bring Beyonce, Pharrell or anyone else onstage to help him. He went all out on the set, the production, and musically the band was tight.
As much as Jay is the President of Hip-Hop, I think that Jay has grown as an artist doing this event, the success of his performance has shown the world and any doubters that he still has a massive career ahead of him as an artist.

Expect a collaboration with Oasis in the future, it is a guaranteed no.1 before they even pick up the phone to talk about going into a studio.

Even though HipHop acts have been doing festivals for years, this was the first time that the Glastonbury organisers have had a rapper as a headline act, which isn’t a big deal when you consider that it is a 3 day event.
Jay-z wasn’t the only HipHop act at Glastonbury this year, Lupe Fiasco, Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, and Bashy were also on the line-up and all received very good responses on the respective stages that they performed on.
There was no need for the drama or controversy surrounding the announcement of Jay being added to the line up. If anything Jay benefitted from it.

Whether you are a fan, DJ, or MC, or Blogger, we have all benefitted out of this situation. It’s not just a big look for Jay, but once again we have demonstrated the influence of Hip-Hop and reinforced the fact that it is one of the most creative, entertaining art forms on the planet.

It cannot be stopped, its just going to grow even bigger.
Expect Eminem or Kanye West to headline Glastonbury next year, thanks to Noel!

Set list swiped from the good folk at Colonised minds, where you can catch the entire set.