Royal Shakespeare artistic director compares Jay-Z, Will.i.am to the bard

Jay-Z and Will.i.am have been compared to Shakespeare by the artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Michael Boyd compared the work of the great bard to the modern day work of rappers such as Jay-Z and Black Eyed Peas star Will.i.am, saying: “The closest to Shakespeare in contemporary times are rappers."

“[They use] that extraordinary quick fire, highly-organised, very witty metrical rhyming language which is brilliant in terms of consciously addressing the whole of society.”

Talking on a US TV show, Boyd explained: “The reason Shakespeare is still alive is that he couldn’t help being relevant. He was trying to be relevant.

"He needed to explain the world around him to himself. Rap is like that too. Good poetics comes out of a need. They are thinking how can you say this so that it is absolutely on the button, doesn’t get you in trouble and is memorable – not just for the ­audience.

“Shakespeare invented a great number of words. He joined words together in new ways enriching the vocabulary and finding new ways of talking.”

Boyd did not pass comment on Nicki Minaj however, who recently claimed she was determined to replace Jay-Z at the top of the rap game.