In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, rapper/entrepreneur Jay-Z speaks on breaking genre barrier’s at music festivals across the globe.
Just a few years ago Jay-Z sparked much controversy when he performed at the normally rock-heavy Glastonbury Festival.
“That was the old guard standing in the way, saying, ‘This is rock music. This is sacred,’ ” Jay-Z explained to the Los Angeles Times in regards to performing at the festival. “It was one of those hurdles we had to break down.”
With his Glastonbury Festival performance now a thing of the past Jay-Z is now booking performance gigs at an array of festivals. This year alone Jay-Z will perform at California’s Coachella Music & Arts Festival, Tennessee’s Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, Japan’s Summer Sonic Festival, and Germany’s Rock Am Ring.
“At festivals, some people are there to see you, some people are there to see the act before you, some people have no idea who you are,” said Jay-Z. “So how do you take that audience of all those different people and make them focus on one point? That’s the challenge.”
The Coachella Music & Arts Festival will begin on Friday, April 16. Jay-Z will serve as the headliner for the festival’s opening day.
tbh Jay isn’t the first rapper to perform at Rock festivals. Eminem, Cypress Hill, Dizzee Rascal, Wu Tang etc have been doing it for a while. Difference is that Jay raps about hustling, drugs, money etc which doesn’t normally appeal to rock fans.
Having a band to play your music instead of a DJ is the way for rappers to make the live experience even greater. Sure a DJ and a MC is fine in a small venue but Madison Square needs a choir and band.
The ability to perform at a festival such as Glastonbury largely relies on the music made by the artist and how well known their music is.
Jay hasn’t particularly opened any boundaries imo You won’t see 50, Wayne or Gucci headlining Glastonbury anytime soon. Jay’s just proved that there are other markets that by changing your performance set up you can tap into.
plan b is at plenty of roc festivals!
GOK thinks hes too smart lol you act like cypress hill, eminem and wu tang dont rap about money and drugs. One of cypress hills most popular songs is called ‘hits from the bong’.. ‘ im so high’ and should i even mention wu tangs most popular song? C.R.E.A.M (CASH rules everything around me).. so basically your not as smart as you think you are.
wen has shady really bragged bout bein rich unless its on sum funny stupid shit like elevator???
how much does shady talk bout taking and how much people does he talk about killing?
“taking drugs” i meant
Wow you’re retarded.
Of course everyone knows Cypress Hill are the kings of weed songs. smh
What I was saying was the whole commercialised hustler image Jay Z represents wasn’t popular with rock fans. If you don’t realise the difference between how Cypress Hill is viewed compared to Jay Z by rock fans then you are a complete retard.
dickhead, i didn’t know cypress hill had the alias of “shady” i wasn’t talking bout cypress hill, fag. read the comment again and see what i really meant
ur an idiot i wasnt even talking about ur comment moron
my bad homie
GOK, PLEASE STOP HATING. WHY IS JAY-Z PERFORMING AT VENUES WHERE RAPPERS USUALLY DON’T PERFORM AT? BECAUSE HIS MUSIC IS EXACTLY THAT, MUSIC. ITS NOT HARDCORE HIP HOP OR RAP ANYMORE. ITS MUSIC THAT ANYONE CAN LISTEN. EVEN HIS OLD DRUG RAPS CAN BE LISTENED TO BY ANYBODY BECAUSE HIS WORDPLAY HAS BEEN GROWN UP SINCE FOREVER. EM GETS LOVE AT ROCK SHOWS CUZ HE’S WHITE AND BUGGED OUT EVERYBODY LOVES WU-TANG, AND CYPRESS HILL DID ROCK FOR A WHILE SO YAH THEY GET LOVE. JIGGA MUSIC TOO POWERFUL TO PUT A LABEL ON
cypress hill has been doing this for years!!!!!! i saw them at lalapalooza 94′ which was way before any of these cats thought about doing rock festivals, before ice cube did warped tour, before kanye did lalapalooza, before all them cats on woodstock. know-the-ledge!!!!!! jay-z aint breakin down any walls………
Jay-z is headlining the concert, that’s the difference. Kanye, Cypress Hill, and Ice Cube never headlined those festivals.
Kanye and common were at the cohella music fest in 2006, J Z is late to the game here, funny he says he is doing something new, Nope. But i like J anyway.
i think a lot of what the previous comments were focusing on, is that JAY-Z never did have, what people may consider, an ‘alternative’ audience. CYPRESS HILL, ICE CUBE, DIZZEE RASCAL, and (to some extent) WUTANG CLAN alwayz did. JAY appealed, primarily to the ‘hip-hop’ audience.
secondly, the person who pointed out that the super hustler (that JAY-Z obviously is), never appealed to the ‘alternative’ audience, is 100% correct.
whilst CYPRESS HILL, and EMINEM rhyme about TAKING drugs, JAY-Z talks about SELLING them. big difference.
while WUTANG talked that C.R.E.A.M. surrounds their environment, JAY talks about HAVING hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars. again, big difference.
these two points, are what makes JAY-Z’s transition, special.
LIKE MICHEAL JACKSON SAID WERE TAKEN OVER…
yea Nas & Damian are doing Bonaroo too.
both Nas and Jay Z headlining a hippie fest? hiphop has come a long way for sure
Ppl key word here is headlining. When has a hip hop artist headlined a rock concert? None of the artist you all named has done it. Just give the man his props for making hip hop a wider market. He is taking places hip hop would have never gone. He was at the White House, he did the superbowl and the world series. Whether a fan or not, he is carrying hip hop right now.
The Roots did the olympics son!
but yea Jay’s music has been declining in quality but he does rep hiphop on the world stage. can’t knock a Brooklyn rapper makin it to the White House. of course if Mccain had won that would still be fantasy
Mcain would’ve brought Taylor Swift instead lol
cypres hill headlined lolapalooza festval in 1994 and headlined glastonbury in 2000 and was in woodstock 94
jay-z is not breakin festival barriers, cypress hill have been headlining festivals since 94 like woodstock, lolapalooza, glastonbury, boonaro and this year rock in rio
yea but their music itself blends genres. rap/rock so thats different than a rapper
You so right about this…I could name at least 30 rappers who have headlined or rapped at these festivals
emm Jay Z > Cypress Hill clearly
talkin bout breakin barriers…..cypress hill headlined festivals way back in the early 90s. u sleepin jay
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