Wired Up by Wireless

12-07-2008This Month 12th Jul 08:15

Fresh from his storming set at the Glastonbury music festival in June, American rapper Jay-Z descended on London last week to perform at the O2 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park. Keen to silence his critics - among them Oasis singer Noel Gallagher, who claimed having a hip-hop star headlining Glastonbury was "wrong" - once and for all by proving his attitude-heavy, blinged-up appearance at Worthy Farm was far from a one-off, Jay-Z burst onto the stage and delivered a blazing performance.Ahead of the gig, Jay-Z spoke about the special affinity he feels with London, saying: "It's my favourite city to go to. It's the blending of cultures. You can be around Brixton, among the people who really know hip hop, and then you can be among the people who know just the big smash records and it's a little snobbish. It's a very live city, it's super cool."While Glastonbury saw the Brooklyn-born rapper take a swipe at his detractors by performing a cheeky version of Oasis' 'Wonderwall', his performance at the O2 Wireless Festival needed no such gimmick. Arriving on stage to join his band - who were dressed in 1930s-style jazz outfits - Jay-Z was greeted by an adoring crowd who chanted his name. "Say hello to the bad guy," were the first words uttered by a confident Jay-Z to the crowd. A storming set followed, with the rapper - known affectionately as Jigga -- performing many of his greatest hits, including '99 Problems', 'U Don't Know', 'Dirt Off Your Shoulder', 'Oh My God', 'Big Pimpin' ' and 'Hard Knock Life'.With the crowd - many of whom knew every word to the rapper's songs - in raptures, Jigga further delighted by rapping over snippets of several well-known pop songs, including Amy Winehouse's 'Rehab', The Prodigy's 'Smack My B***h Up', U2's 'Sunday Bloody Sunday' and The Jackson Five's 'I Want You Back'.Keen to impress upon the crowd how much he was enjoying the show - at one point the rapper called London his "second home" - he even threw a couple of English lines into the mix, most notably while rapping over Estelle's 'American Boy' when he rhymed: "Quick, run 'fore the tabloids come/ Hide in the night 'fore you end up in The Sun."In a far cry from the gangster-rap stereotype of men obsessed with girls, guns and gold, Jay-Z - who is married to R'n'B diva Beyonce Knowles - also used the stage as a platform to comment on society. He delivered lines about Hurricane Katrina and encouraged the ever-vocal crowd to boo with abandon when images of American President George W. Bush were displayed. As the images of Bush morphed into ones of Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama, Jay-Z was quick to air his support for the hopeful.