by BBG

Havoc of Mobb Deep @ the kick-off in LA (more by Graeme Flegenheimer)

In addition to initially announced Rock The Bells lineup (Nas playing Illmatic? Mobb Deep on The Infamous detail? wow), the festival has made some interesting additions like Erykah Badu performing all of Baduism (on select dates), Common performing all of Be (on select dates), Killah Priest performing all of Heavy Mental, Slaughterhouse, and DOOM. More lineup details are below.

The NYC show on 9/3 at Governor's Island gets the Erykah Badu appearance, and tickets are on presale, password is "ILLMATIC". General sale begins Saturday, 6/11, at 10:00 AM.

LA and San Francisco are on sale now, and the only other date, Boston, still doesn't even have a venue announced yet.

DOOM of course is not to be confused with the crust band who just played MDF and Chaos in Tejas.

In other Hip Hop festival news, Brooklyn Hip Hop Fest's lineup has expanded too adding MOP (!), Torae, Random Axe (Sean Price + Black Milk + Guilty Simpson), eLZhi, Marley Marl, Roli Rho (5th Platoon), Grand Wizzard Theodore and Twilite Tone. Tickets are on sale for all Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival events, including an after-party at Southpaw on July 16th which proclaims to have "special guests invited including the entire BHF '11 lineup".

Full Rock The Bells details, alongside some videos, below...

Continue reading "Rock the Bells expands lineup, NYC tix on presale now"

by BBG

Black Milk celebrated Album of The Year (stream it) with a headlining show at a packed out Southpaw on Tuesday (9/14). In addition to a Besides a bouncy and big-bang performance from Black Milk (one of the few hip hoppers that understands the art of the live show), there was a killer lineup of supporting characters that included the pure hilarity/unstoppable rhymes of Sean Price, a super energetic Elzhi, Guilty Simpson, and a surprise appearance from Roc Marciano (his first since the release of his incredible LP Marcberg on Fat Beats in April).

More pictures from the show below...

Continue reading "Black Milk played Southpaw, Roc Marciano stopped by (pics) "

by BBG

Black Milk at SXSW (more by Samantha Marble)

BrooklynVegan is proud to announce the release party for one of 2010's most highly anticipated underground hip hop albums, Black Milk's Album of The Year. Brooklyn's Southpaw will be the venue and September 14th is the date (also the album's release date). The show will feature appearances from the man himself along with Sean Price, Elzhi of Slum Village, and Guilty Simpson among other special guests still to be announced. Tickets are on sale.

UPDATE: DJ Spinna, who is also spinning the Michael Jackson birthday party in Prospect Park this Sunday, has been added to the Southpaw show.

Individually, Sean Price, Black Milk, and Guilty Simpson is an incredible lineup, but in addition, the threesome combine to form Random Axe. Ramdom Axe have completed an LP that, according to a recent interview, will see a release in "October/November". Keep on the look out for that one.

Elzhi is 1/2 of the current Slum Village, who recently released their new album Villa Manifesto via E1 Music, the first since the passing of Slum Village founding member Baatin and ex-SV member J.Dilla. Elzhi released his (almost entirely) Black Milk-produced solo album The Preface in 2008.

The rest of Random Axe has been busy with their own projects, as well. Sean Price released the Kimbo Price mixtape in the tail end of last year, and is prepping to release Mic Tyson on Duck Down. Guilty Simpson's new LP, um, OJ Simpson hit stores in middle May via Stones Throw. The LP features production by Madlib on all tracks.

Some video, including the recently released Black Milk clip "Deadly Medley" is below...

Continue reading "Black Milk will celebrate 'Album of the Year' at Southpaw (w/ Sean Price, Guilty Simpson, Elzhi & more) "