// BBC ENTERTAINMENT & ARTS — MODA & SOCIETÀ
Lauryn Hill, Wyclef and Giggs among surprise guests at Jay-Z's long-awaited UK show
The US rap superstar rolled back the years for more than two hours at the first of his two shows in London
Jay-Z's first headline solo show in the UK in more than a decade saw him celebrate hip-hop culture alongside a host of special guests, including Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean and Giggs.
The US rap superstar rolled back the years for more than two hours - playing hits like 99 Problems, Empire State of Mind and Dead Presidents - as he took to the stage at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Friday night for the first of two shows in London this weekend.
The run is part of his Jay-Z 30 tour, which is marking the 30th anniversary of his debut album, Reasonable Doubt, and his culture-shaping career that followed.
Fans of his wife Beyoncé had hoped she would join him on stage, like she did at two of his three New York shows this summer, as she was also celebrating her 45th birthday on Friday.
Toward the end of the show, Jay-Z mentioned it was a "young lady's birthday", sending the crowd into a frenzy, but he joked that he couldn't make her perform on her big day.
Instead he asked the crowd to join him in singing Happy Birthday to the US superstar, who was sat in a private box, while sparkler-like fireworks erupted in the sky.
The rapper rattling through a string of hits as he returned to the capital
The show's opening set the tone for the star-studded evening to follow, as British actor Sir Idris Elba kicked things off by performing the intro track to his 2007 album, American Gangster.
As Jay-Z took to the stage, he recalled coming to London in 1989 with his mentor Jaz-O and seeing "what was possible" and it became a "special" place in his career.