Dear Glastonbury Goers

I’m already fed up listening to the “we don’t want hip-hop at our Indie lovefest” nonsense. This is Jay-Z we’re talking about. What would you rather have, another Kaiser Chiefs/Arctic Monkeys knock-off?

Indie acts are a dime a dozen these days and far less interesting because the scene is flooded with them. But still you want a festival filled with wall-to-wall clones. How unimaginative of you.

In my very humble opinion, Jay-Z is a living legend. Okay, a living legend with a stupid name, but let’s not fall out over the details. The guy’s been charting all over the world with awesome hip-hop tracks for years – Big Pimpin’, 99 Problems, Roc Boys …the list goes on and on.

And he’s earned his rock stripes through a collaboration with Linkin Park back in 2003 (in fact, they’re rumoured to be playing together in the UK this year).

Jay-Z could be good for Glastonbury…if you let him

The fact that you absolutely refuse to accept a rapper as the headliner for Glastonbury this year speaks volumes about your musical snobbery and how little you actually care about the festival itself. Why? Because, if Jay-Z could attract a different kind of music fan, then Glastonbury opens up to a whole new audience.

Better still, there’s a chance that the Jay-Z fans who attend might have their eyes opened to a whole new world of Indie music that they might otherwise have shied away from. Everybody wins.

For my part, I’m glad Michael and Emily Eavis have taken such a bold move to diversify the line-up at Glastonbury this year, and I hope they’re not discouraged by the backlash. 

It took a whole weekend to recover from the shock – Jay-Z and Beyonce Knowles? Married? And not a magazine deal or cash-in anywhere in sight?

Isn’t that fresh? Two of the biggest stars on the planet, and they shirked any kind of publicity surrounding their wedding in favour of having an intimate ceremony with close family and friends. The media reports I’m reading mention how private the two are about their relationship – hell, I don’t think they’ve ever officially confirmed a relationship!

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Glastonbury organisers are mixing it up this year: they’ve signed up Roc Boy Jay-Z to headline the festival instead of the usual array of dreary indie bands.

Event organiser Michael Eavis has indicated that they’re looking to attract a younger crowd this year. In comments to the BBC, he said that they want to “break with tradition this time and put on something totally different” and that Jay-Z “will appeal to the young people and under-25s for sure, so that’s a big pull for them”.

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It was well over a decade ago that I first heard 99 Problems by Ice-T. It was in my A Level Art class at school, and one of the guys let me have a listen.It was from Ice’s Home Invasion album, and he was suddenly popular with the metal crew in school because of his Body Count album. That’s what led a lot of us to rap music.

Anyway, fast forward a few years, and 99 Problems hits my stereo again, courtesy of Mr Jay-Z (the similarities in their rap names aren’t lost on me!). Where Ice-T had a real old-school vibe, Jay-Z’s version employs big drums and crunchy, distorted guitar goodness.

Jay-Z’s is also much safer than Ice-T’s. For my money, Ice’s version takes the gold medal for lewdness and sheer brilliance. Whose version do you prefer?

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