Jay-Z restores albums to Spotify to celebrate his 50th birthday

Rapper's albums including 'Watch the Throne' and 'American Gangster' are back on the streaming service

Tidal owner Jay-Z previously removed a number of albums from rival Spotify (Getty)

Jay-Z is celebrating his 50th birthday by putting his full discography back on Spotify.

The rapper, producer and record executive, who owns the rival streaming service Tidal, previously removed the majority of his studio albums, with just Reasonable Doubt, In My Lifetime, Vol 1 and Vol 2... Hard Knock Life left. Fans could also stream Collision Course, Hov’s 2004 album with Linkin Park.

However, to mark his 50th birthday, Jay-Z has now restored albums such as Watch the Throne, The Black Album and American Gangster to Spotify.

It is currently unclear as to whether he intends on keeping his music on the streaming service, or if it will be removed again at a later date.

Posting on Twitter, Spotify wrote: “Happy birthday, Hov. Welcome back to Spotify.”

It recently emerged that Stormzy turned down an offer to work with Jay-Z, because he didn’t think the pair had a song that would fit as a collaboration.

The grime star was working with Ed Sheeran and Hov for “Take Me Back to London”, which was included on Sheeran’s No 6 Collaborations Project.

Jay-Z reportedly wanted to feature on the track, but Stormzy felt that, given the fellow rapper is American, it wouldn’t sound right.

“I was like, ‘I love this song but you being on [it] changes everything,” he said. “’Take Me Back to London’ with me and Ed is one thing, but now that Jay-Z is on it... This is Jay-Z and Stormzy, what he means to culture, what I mean to culture... I didn’t think it was the [right] song.”