pics from Rock the Bells 2011 @ Governors Island (Nas, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Raekwon, Ghostface, Mobb Deep, more)

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photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin, words by BBG

Lauryn / Erykah
Lauryn Hill
Erykah Badu

Last year Rock the Bells, the touring hip-hop bonanza, picked up on the voguish festival concept in which an artist performs an old record from beginning to end. It went well, and this year's edition bought in twice as hard. On Saturday on Governors Island, amid other, more ordinary sets, 11 albums were performed in their entirety.

What a gorging! What an obligation! It seemed to weigh on the crowd. It meant that listeners weren't in the here and now, where they might be fratty or selfish or mean spirited. They were deep in the been and gone. They weren't just listening to hits, or to sustained works of art, but to their own pasts. The exercise cooled them out. Saturday's audience was truly racially mixed, with a heavy representation of the 30-to-45 age bracket, grown-up New Yorkers at their casual and courteous best. Many of them high, but still. -[New York Times]

Rock The Bells 2011 took Governors Island by storm on 9/3, and according to reports, ran smoothly and generally on time. There was a barrage of classic LPs (Nas's Illmatic, Mobb Deep's The Infamous, Lauryn Hill's Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu's Baduizm, Black Moon's Enta Da Stage, GZA's Liquid Swords, Cypress Hill's Black Sunday, and others), and performances from some of independent hip hop's great up-and-comers. Though it was clearly elders day, younger crews like Slaughterhouse, Big K.R.I.T., Fashawn, Blu & Exile, Freddie Gibbs, Roc Marciano and others also had the ability to shine on the Paid Dues stage (DOOM, an elder statesman via his days in KMD, was scheduled to play the Paid Dues stage but cancelled his appearance).

In true hip hop fashion, guests abounded. Nas capped the day off with a performance of Illmatic, and he didn't hide the men/women behind the curtain of his first LP; MC Serch, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Large Professor (of Main Source), Akinyele, Fatal, AZ and many others who either blessed the LP or were instrumental in his come-up all made appearances (yes, they performed the Main Source classic "Live at the BBQ" featuring Nas's first recorded appearance). Pras of The Fugees joined Lauryn Hill for "Ready of Not", Big Noyd joined Mobb Deep for "Give Up the Goods (Just Step)" and other tracks, and Black Moon brought a full band.

More pictures from the whole day, below...

Random Axe

Black Star

Genius GZA

...with Killah Priest
Genius GZA

Genius GZA

...with RZA
Genius GZA

Genius GZA

Cypress Hill

Fashawn, Blu, & Exile

Fashawn, Blue, & Exile

Black Moon

Erykah Badu

Big Krit

Mobb Deep

...with Big Noyd
Mobb Deep

Mobb Deep

Slaughterhouse

Supernatural, Raekwon and Ghostface

Supernatural

Supernatural, Raekwon and Ghostface

Ghostface

Supernatural, Raekwon and Ghostface

Raekwon

Supernatural, Raekwon and Ghostface

Lauryn Hill

NAS

Nas

...with Pete Rock

Nas

...with DJ Premier
Nas

Nas

...with AZ

Nas

Tags: AZ, Big Krit, Big Noyd, Black Moon, Black Star, Blu, Cypress Hill, DJ Premier, Erykah Badu, Exile, Fashawn, Ghostface, Governors Island, GZA, Killah Priest, Lauryn Hill, Mobb Deep, Mos Def, Nas, Raekwon, Random Axe, Rock the Bells, Slaughterhouse, Supernatural, Talib Kweli

posted at 11:36 AM on September 7, 2011 in hiphop | music | pictures | Comments (22)

Comments (22)

for the record, most groups played a few songs off those records.

cypress played it straight through..didnt miss a beat.

Posted by Anonymous | September 7, 2011 11:53 AM

When did Lauryn Hill show up?

Posted by Anonymous | September 7, 2011 12:02 PM

@1202pm She showed up 45 mins late to her set! I left after two songs because it was that bad.

She can't rap anymore so she just tries to sing which is just horrible.

Nas, Black Star, and GZA were the best in my opinion.

Posted by Anonymous | September 7, 2011 12:09 PM

too bad live hip hop sucks, this sounds great on paper. would have loved to hear live at the bbq, when nas was still nasty

Posted by Anonymous | September 7, 2011 12:12 PM

who?

Posted by Anonymous | September 7, 2011 12:18 PM

black people

Posted by Anonymous | September 7, 2011 12:42 PM

looks fucking FUN! nice pics and def looks like the crowd was havin a blast.

Posted by Anonymous | September 7, 2011 1:13 PM

someone call the cops...

Posted by Anonymous | September 7, 2011 1:26 PM

white people watching black people that they paid too much to see

Posted by Anonymous | September 7, 2011 1:32 PM

RZA FTW!

Posted by Anonymous | September 7, 2011 2:47 PM

Jeez Nas and Pete Rock is pretty over the top and the rest looked pretty solid too

Posted by Anonymous | September 7, 2011 5:50 PM

good lord what a lineup

Posted by Anonymous | September 7, 2011 6:57 PM

The photos really capture the energy and essence of this festival...especially the crowd pix

Posted by Anonymous | September 8, 2011 3:45 PM

this looks like a great time. given raekown's apparent weight gain, he probably shouldn't have worn a cookie monster shirt.

Posted by Anonymous | September 8, 2011 3:58 PM

Its really cool pics You are rock gysssssssss keep Rockinggggggggggggggggggg..

Posted by kaif | September 11, 2011 9:28 AM

So pissed i missed mobb deep. Hopefully they do the infamous again.

Posted by Anonymous | September 11, 2011 9:16 PM

sick. I can't believe all this happened in the same place at once.

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Posted by ekfat | February 4, 2012 6:46 PM

Evidently white people like watching African American rapper perform or hey wouldn't have paid that much. Dumb Ass!!

Posted by I hate dumb ass comments! | June 7, 2012 3:08 PM

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Posted in hiphop | music | pictures on September 7, 2011

pics from Rock the Bells 2011 @ Governors Island (Nas, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Raekwon, Ghostface, Mobb Deep, more)

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Posted in hiphop | music | pictures on September 7, 2011

pics from Rock the Bells 2011 @ Governors Island (Nas, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Raekwon, Ghostface, Mobb Deep, more)

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