In Praise of ... Jay-z

Most people will not have heard of Jay-Z until this week, when newspapers reported that Glastonbury's top billing for some American rapper had led to disappointing ticket sales. Not only must that be the first time that a music event (sponsored by the Guardian), selling 100,000 tickets within a few hours, has been branded a flop, it is also hugely unfair to a musician who has had as many chart-topping albums in America as Elvis. Were Jay-Z just about commercial success he would not be worth much comment, but the one known as the God MC to fans and as Shawn Carter to his mum is one of the most gifted rappers the genre has ever had, with a rare talent for wordplay. On his 2001 classic The Blueprint, an album's-worth of boasting is summed up in eight syllables: "We run streets like / drunks run street lights." The subject matter is standard hip-hop fare, reflecting an upbringing in Brooklyn's housing projects and a street culture of drugs and guns (along with tiresome sexism and money-worship), yet the lyrics avoid cliche: "Blame Reagan for making me a monster / Blame Oliver North and Iran Contra / I ran contraband that they sponsored." His later work is marked by increasingly inventive delivery: instead of firing off words, the rapper slows down, stretches his words or simply stops. At the grand old age of 38, Jay-Z talks of retirement and has bought stakes in a record label, a bar and a basketball team. He surely deserves more than to be labeled as just another urban-music act.