--- title: Jay-Z: Chris Martin Is a "Modern Day Shakespeare" description: Jay-Z has hailed Coldplay‘s Chris Martin as a “modern day Shakespeare” in an interview with Metro newspaper. canonical: https://time.com/4882550/jay-z-says-coldplays-chris-martin-is-a-modern-day-shakespeare/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-01T16:51:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:46:05.063Z og:title: Jay-Z Says Coldplay's Chris Martin Is a 'Modern Day Shakespeare' og:description: The rapper also called Martin a 'genius' og:url: https://time.com/4882550/jay-z-says-coldplays-chris-martin-is-a-modern-day-shakespeare/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30fac6c3df30a465/6988d7f722fb856558e22340/jayzchrismartin.jpg?branch=production&width=1000&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1000 og:image:height: 563 og:image:alt: jayzchrismartin og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jay-Z Says Coldplay's Chris Martin Is a 'Modern Day Shakespeare' twitter:description: The rapper also called Martin a 'genius' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30fac6c3df30a465/6988d7f722fb856558e22340/jayzchrismartin.jpg?branch=production&width=1000&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jay-Z Says Coldplay's Chris Martin Is a 'Modern Day Shakespeare' > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=e8426b0b-fd1c-47c2-a6fe-f11f97a620b1&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Nick Reilly / NME](https://time.com/author/nme/) ## Nick Reilly / NME Aug 1, 2017 4:51 PM UTC  Johnny Nunez—WireImage/Getty Images by [Nick Reilly / NME](https://time.com/author/nme/) ## Nick Reilly / NME Aug 1, 2017 4:51 PM UTC [Jay-Z](http://nme.com/artists/jay-z) has hailed[ Coldplay](http://nme.com/artists/coldplay)‘s [Chris Martin ](http://nme.com/artists/chris-martin)as a “modern day Shakespeare”. The rapper, who released latest album 4:44 last month, praised the singer in an interview with Metro newspaper. “I have been in the industry long enough to know when I’m in the presence of a genius and Chris Martin is just that,” he opened up. “In years to come, Britain will look back at him as a modern day Shakespeare. He is an incredible recording artist, an incredible songwriter, but where he really comes alive is performing live. If you get the chance to see Coldplay live, do it – you ain’t gonna regret it.” The pair’s friendship has been previously well documented – with the two teaming up on ‘Beach Chair’, taken from Jay-Z’s 2006 album ‘Kingdom Come’. They also co-headlined [a New Year’s eve show in New York in 2012](http://www.nme.com/news/music/jay-z-61-1267045), with Jay-Z joining the band to rap on ‘Lost+’, which featured on their ‘Prospekt’s March’ EP. Meanwhile, [Jay-Z recently shared two new bonus tracks ](http://www.nme.com/news/music/jay-z-reveals-444-bonus-tracks-featuring-daughter-blue-ivy-james-blake-2119127)for his new album ‘4:44’, featuring guest spots from Jay and [Beyoncé](http://www.nme.com/artists/beyonce)‘s daughter Blue Ivy, and longtime friend and collaborator [James Blake](http://www.nme.com/artists/james-blake). The new tracks were released on Tidal this weekend alongside Jay-Z’s [new video for ‘4:44’ cut ‘Adnis’](http://www.nme.com/news/music/2118356-2118356). _This_ [_article_](http://www.nme.com/news/music/jay-z-chris-martin-modern-day-shakespeare-2119421) _originally appeared on_ [_NME.com_](http://www.nme.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4882550/jay-z-says-coldplays-chris-martin-is-a-modern-day-shakespeare/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4882550/jay-z-says-coldplays-chris-martin-is-a-modern-day-shakespeare/"},"headline":"Jay-Z Says Coldplay's Chris Martin Is a 'Modern Day Shakespeare'","datePublished":"2017-08-01T16:51:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:46:05.063Z","description":"The rapper also called Martin a 'genius'","url":"https://time.com/4882550/jay-z-says-coldplays-chris-martin-is-a-modern-day-shakespeare/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30fac6c3df30a465/6988d7f722fb856558e22340/jayzchrismartin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nick Reilly / NME"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30fac6c3df30a465/6988d7f722fb856558e22340/jayzchrismartin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"jayzchrismartin","caption":"","creditText":"Johnny Nunez—WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4882550/jay-z-says-coldplays-chris-martin-is-a-modern-day-shakespeare/","name":"Jay-Z Says Coldplay's Chris Martin Is a 'Modern Day Shakespeare'"}}]}] ```