Rihanna plays cheerleader for Jay-Z at V Festival as Wild Thoughts singer dances backstage

Jay-Z had his own personal cheerleader while headlining V Festival last night (20 August). The 99 Problems rapper was watched from the side of stage by his Roc Nation protege Rihanna, who proved herself to be one of the most enthusiastic audience members.

Playing to more than 100,000 fans at Weston Park in Chelmsford, Jay-Z, 47, delivered a worthy collection of classic hits and songs from his latest album 4:44. Supporting her longtime friend and mentor just off-stage, Rihanna sang along and larked around with Jay-Z's best friend Tyran "TyTy" Smith.

In one Instagram story, Rihanna, 29, is seen swaying to Jay-Z's 4:44 album song Family Feud with his wife Beyonce's vocals heard on the backing track. Another video showed Rihanna singing loudly to I Just Want To Love You (Give It To Me) before rapping along to Big Pimpin. However when TyTy jumps in front of the camera and ruined her shot of Jay-Z, Rihanna jokingly shouts: "Get the f**k out."

Jay-Z's final headline set at V Festival also saw the rapper perform a slew of other hit singles, including Dirt Off Your Shoulder, 99 Problems and N****s In Paris, a collaboration with his former friend Kanye West.

Midway through his performance, Jay-Z is said to have scolded security guards in the stage pit who were blocking the view of fans in the front row. Determined not to ruin their experience, Jay-Z told the guards: "The fans paid their f*****g money – let them see!" before adding: "Wave them flags – get up and do what you wanna do."

Watch Rihanna's Instagram story from V Festival:

According to The Sun, Jay-Z pulled out all the stops to ensure he and his entourage travelled in style from the other V Festival location, Hylands Park in Staffordshire, to Chelmsford. The insider revealed: "Jay Z's travel plans were extreme. His S92 helicopter was like nothing seen before, even though none of his family had come with him.

"The thing was so big it even has its own toilet on board. It was huge. V had planned to bring in a fleet of Mercedes-Benz with blacked-out windows for Jay and his crew too. But he insisted that would not be good enough. He said his cars had to be bulletproof, so they had to borrow armoured vehicles from the Army."

During his Staffordshire performance, Jay-Z paid tribute to his close friend, Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington, who died in July, and dedicated their iconic 2003 collaboration, Encore/Numb, to the late musician.

Rihanna is believed to have been in London for around a week before V Festival as she was spotted on a night out with her boyfriend, Hassan Jameel, at the Chiltern Firehouse on 16 August.