Jay-Z calls Glastonbury headlining furore "ridiculous"
Jay-Z says criticism of Glastonbury headlining slot is ridiculous
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Saturday, 21, Jun 2008 11:15
Jay-Z hae expressed his exasperation at the criticism of his headline slot at Glastonbury Festival.
The Roc-A-Fella star is to play the Pyramid stage at the legendary festival on Saturday June 28th but his booking has been cited as the reason for slower ticket sales for this year's event.
But speaking to BBC Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood, Jay-Z - real name Shawn Carter - called the criticism of his headlining slot from the likes of Oasis' Noel Gallagher "ridiculous".
"If we don't embrace what is new, then how do we progress?" he asked.
"I've never actually experienced anything like that before," he continued.
"It's 2008, what is that about? That's such old school thinking, that's not even how the world thinks anymore. So I was really taken aback [by the criticism]."
While artists such as Get Cape.Wear Cape.Fly, Dizzee Rascal and the Guillemots have lent their support to Jay-Z's headline slot, arguing that the best rapper in the world should perform at the musical festival renowned as the best on the planet, Gallagher said a hip-hop artist was "wrong" for the festival.
But Jay-Z argued that dividing artists into genres is counter-productive.
"These barriers that they have are only put up there to separate us," he said.
"They are there so people have a way of filing the music but that's not the way kids today listen to music.
"I listen to all types of music and that's what should happen, that's what the world should be about, mixing culture.
"There's only good music and bad music."