The Daily Swarm

Times UK:

In the event, Jay-Z at Glastonbury 2008 proved to be the most thrilling headline act for more than a decade. We should have known that the artist, who retired briefly from making music in 2003 because there was nothing new left to achieve, would relish this sort of challenge.

A video montage chronicling the furore that had led up to this most controversial of bookings began with Noel Gallagher piously proclaiming: “Sorry, but Jay-Z, I’m not f***ing having him at Glastonbury.” Then came Jay-Z, contemptuously miming Wonderwall while strumming a guitar. Finally, an explosion of hip-hop beats heralded 99 Problems. With his biggest hit behind him, he declared: “My name is Jay-Z and I’m pretty f***ing awesome.” He made light work of proving it with the elastic funk of I Know What Girls Like.

Flanked by a live band, Jay-Z expanded Blue Magic to include a verse about the Bush Administration’s reaction to Hurricane Katrina. The “f*** Bush” line elicited a seismic cheer, as did the image of Barack Obama that followed. For a second you could have sworn that the world had changed a little bit, just like it did after Bob Dylan went electric at Newport in 1965. Yes, it was really that thrilling.

Jim DeRogatis:

Now 41 and more MILF than coquette, this controversial daughter of privilege from Winnetka is, depending on your point of view, a trailblazing post-feminist icon who spoke with unusual power for a generation of young women during the alternative rock explosion, or a pandering, exploitative wannabe cheerfully using every means at her disposal to achieve celebrity—the thinking rocker’s Paris Hilton.