Jay-Z: 'Glastonbury was a game-changer'

Jay-Z has described his headline slot at Glastonbury as a "game-changer".

The rapper performed at the festival in 2008 but was linked to a drop in ticket sales.

Meanwhile, Noel Gallagher famously criticised Jay-Z's appearance on the bill and claimed that having hip-hop at Glastonbury is "wrong".

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Jay-Z said: "That was the old guard standing in the way, saying, 'This is rock music. This is sacred'. It was one of those hurdles we had to break down."

He added: "It felt like we were invading a country. 'Whoa, there's a lot of people out there'. I had never played before that many people in my life. 'What did we just do? This had better work'."

However, Jay-Z also revealed that appearing at Glastonbury had forced him to improve his live performances, explaining that he studied artists including Madonna, Daft Punk and U2.

"If you want to be a headliner, you better put on a headline show," he said. "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. So how do you take that audience of all those different people and make them focus on one point? That's the challenge."

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