BBC
The internet has made it possible for random clips from fairly obscure sources to become immortalized courtesy of memes that have essentially become their own form of language online.
That includes a popular reaction GIF of Jay-Z bobbing his head while rocking the kind of glasses you’d expect to find on the face of a home economics teacher named Agnes, which you’ll probably be surprised can be traced back to a concert featuring a fairly unlikely musical act.
Jay-Z has been at the center of a few memes, including the “$500K Or Dinner” debate he got the chance to address during an interview last year.
I’ve also come across people who’ve harnessed a GIF of him reacting to the beat that would become “Dirt Off Your Shoulder” for the first time to give something their seal of approval, but that one has nothing on the popularity of another featuring a close-up of Jay-Z bobbing his head at what was presumably a concert he was vibing with.
I’ve come across that infinitely looping image more times than I can count during my time on the internet, but I can’t say I’ve ever been compelled to do some digging to find out which artist was able to garner the reaction that serves as the ultimate co-sign for their music.
However, I can definitively say I would not have been able to guess the culprit in a million years after inadvertently stumbling across the answer.
Like many people, I recently decided to cap off the weekend by doing some Sunday night doom-scrolling and eventually came across a clip of Coldplay performing. I can’t tell you what compelled me to linger on a video of a band that’s never really done it for me, but I’m glad I did, as I was shocked to discover their music (specifically the song “Lovers in Japan”) was responsible for the Jay-Z clip in question.
After doing some digging, I was able to discover Jay-Z was present when Coldplay performed a 45-minute set at the BBC Television Centre in London in 2008 to promote the release of the album Viva La Vida (which featured the single “Lost!,” which eventually spawned a remix with Hov).
What a world.