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‘Umbrella’ Watch 2008: Can Jay-Z’s Endorsement Help Make Estelle’s ‘American Boy’ the Song of the Summer?


In the middle of a pretty spectacular headlining set at England’s Glastonbury Festival on Saturday night, Jay-Z dropped this short remix of Estelle’s “American Boy” on an excited crowd of more than 100,000 dirty, unshowered (but seemingly very receptive) British people. If you’ve been paying any attention to our unending search for 2008’s song of the summer, you’ll probably know that we’ve not yet found a track we like better than Estelle’s infectious, Kanye-assisted single, currently No. 37 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Will Jay’s cover be the thing that finally puts “American Boy” over the top? We sure hope so! The remix is only about a minute long, but surely he can write a few more verses, record a studio version, and get this thing back on the radio, right?


Of course, most of the attention on Jay-Z’s Glastonbury appearance is focused on his backhanded musical salute to loudmouthed (and eminently quotable) Oasis leader Noel Gallagher, who claimed in April that Hov was “wrong” for the festival (“Glastonbury has a tradition of guitar music … I’m not having hip-hop at Glastonbury … I’m sorry, but Jay-Z? No chance”). Jay opened with this version of “Wonderwall,” which is so awesome it sort of makes us disappointed he didn’t do “Live Forever” and “Champagne Supernova” too. Download the whole set here.

Video: Jay-Z - American Boy Rmx (Good Quality) [Nah Right]
Jay-Z Live at Glastonbury 2008 (DOWNLOAD) [Hip Hop Is Read via Idolator]

Earlier: ‘Umbrella’ Watch 2008: Is Estelle’s ‘American Boy’ the Song of the Summer?

‘Umbrella’ Watch 2008: Can Jay-Z’s Endorsement Help Make Estelle’s ‘American Boy’ the Song of the Summer?