Schoolboy Q at Best Buy Theater - 5/21/13 (via Kellen Dengler)

Thanks to TDE's recent success, Q found himself as the most established performer at the Freshman show. With no one to accompany him on stage, he fared better in the larger crowd as a solo artist, breezing through tracks from Habits & Contradictions and throwback collaborations with A$AP Rocky. At one point, he asked Kendrick Lamar to join him but laughed at the audience members who fell for his joke. Fittingly, he won the crowd back with his charisma by asking them the title of his upcoming album. "Oxymoron!" they screamed back. And this was done four times over. [XXL]

The 2013 XXL Freshman Class, including Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Joey Bada$$, Action Bronson, Angel Haze, and more, all came to NYC for a show at Best Buy Theater last night (5/21). You can check out a video of Schoolboy Q playing "My Hatin' Joint" at the show, below.

As mentioned in yesterday's What's Going On? post, Action Bronson made a video for his Harry Fraud-produced song, "Strictly 4 My Jeeps." If you missed it, you can watch that video below. Riff Raff stars in the video, and as discussed, he plays a Scion A/V show in Brooklyn at Coco 66 tonight (5/22) with Stalley and Smoke DZA. Entrance to that show had to be gained through Scion's contest which has since ended.

Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul are both members of the group Black Hippy (which also includes Kendrick Lamar and Jay Rock), and that whole group is playing the traveling Rock the Bells Festival which hits the NYC-area on October 4-5 at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, NJ. Tickets for that festival are on sale now. The rest of the lineup includes Big K.R.I.T., Common, Danny Brown, Earl Sweatshirt, Tyler the Creator, Jhene Aiko, Juicy J, Rakim, Wu-Tang Clan, and many more.

Updated Rock the Bells lineup and videos below...

Continue reading "Schoolboy Q, Action Bronson (who has a new video) & more played the XXL Freshman show; Rock the Bells tix on sale"

Happy 10th anniversary to Rock the Bells, who have announced their initial, rotating 2013 lineup featuring hosts Peter Rosenberg & MURS 3:16, as well as names like Bone Thugs N Harmony, Danny Brown, Black Hippy (who just played NYC), Common, E40 & Too Short, Earl Sweatshirt (ditto), Flatbush Zombies, Juicy J (who played a Fader show on Monday and Irving Plaza last night), Rakim, Wu-Tang Clan (who play Summer Jam soon), Tyler the Creator (who just announced an NYC show as part of Odd Future), Eazy E, Ol Dirty Bastard and more. Confused? Yes, I did just say Eazy E and Ol Dirty Bastard, both of which will be "virtual performances" as part of the travelling festival. AllHipHop reports:

Ol Dirty Bastard and Eazy-E's spirits will return to the stage at Rock The Bells this year, AllHipHop has learned.

The pair of Hip-Hop legends will have holograms performing this year at the 10-year anniversary of the rap festival.

Eazy-E will perform virtually with Bone Thugs-In-Harmony and ODB will rock with Wu Tang. Organizers said Eazy never blessed the Rock The Bells stage and ODB only did once.

Also, the "holograms" are approved by Eazy-E's wife Tomica Wright and Ol Dirty's mother, Cherry Jones.

Tupac's Coachella appearance inspired the new virtual performances at Rock The Bells, organizers admitted.

So far only four dates exist for Rock the Bells. They're all listed below. Two of them are on the East Coast and one is in the NYC area at Meadowlands Racetrack in Rutherford, NJ on October 4-5. Tickets go on presale Thursday (10/16) at noon, and regular sale on Saturday.

Initial lineup (at least 15 more artists TBA), dates and some video below.

Continue reading "Rock the Bells 2013 initial lineup (Wu-Tang, Earl Sweatshirt, Juicy J, Tyler the Creator... + hologram ODB & Eazy E)"

by Andrew Sacher

Curren$y

MiMOSA, who veers a bit towards the brostep/Camp Bisco scene, is going on what he's dubbed the Future Trill Tour in support of his upcoming album, Future Trill Vol. 1. The tour was announced a couple weeks ago but it's recently been expanded to include a NYC show and it was announced that Curren$y will join him on at least a few of the dates, including the ones in Boston, NYC, and Silver Spring, MD. The NYC show happens on November 9 at Best Buy Theater and tickets go on sale Friday (9/7) at noon. It isn't clear if he'll be added to more dates on the tour at the moment.

Curren$y, who has released countless albums/mixtapes/EPs since 2009, put out his first major label album, The Stoned Immaculate, this past June via Warner Bros. You can check out the official lyric video for that album's closing track, "Jet Life," which features Big K.R.I.T. and Wiz Khalifa. Curren$y also recently played the San Bernardino, CA Rock the Bells stop and uploaded a video to his YouTube page splicing together live and behind the scenes footage. You can watch that video below.

Those videos and a list of all dates are below.

Continue reading "Curren$y touring w/ MiMOSA (dates & a recent live video)"

"Another Planet Entertainment, Superfly Presents and Starr Hill presents, in a partnership with the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, are proud to announce the lineup for the fifth annual Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival. The world's only gourmet music festival will once again take place in San Francisco's historic Golden Gate Park August 10 - 12, 2012. Tickets will go on sale Thursday April 19 at 12 noon PDT via www.sfoutsidelands.com. A significant portion of every ticket sold will directly benefit San Francisco's Recreation and Park Department."

Pretty massive lineup for the San Francisco festival this year. Check it out below....

Continue reading "Outside Lands 2012 lineup (Metallica, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, Jack White, Foo Fighters, Beck, Skrillex...)"

"Superfly Presents and A.C. Entertainment are excited to announce the initial lineup for the 2012 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The 11th annual four-day camping and music festival will be held on June 7 - 10 on the same beautiful 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville. A full list of confirmed acts follows, and more will be announced in the coming weeks. The final Bonnaroo 2012 lineup will total over 125 bands and over 20 comedians performing on 13 stages over four days.Tickets for the event will go on sale on this Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 12 noon EST exclusively at bonnaroo.com."

Radiohead, Beach Boys, Phish, Little Dragon, SBTRKT, The Antlers, Bad Brains, Laura Marling, St. Vinent, Tune-Yards, Flying Lotus, and many more are playing Bonnaroo this year. Full list below...

Continue reading "Bonnaroo 2012 lineup announced"

"The Snow Ball Music Festival [in 2011] was chill, in more ways than one. Besides the expected below freezing temperatures Avon gets in early March, the atmosphere of the festival and attitude of the attendees were very relaxed. The tents were set up on snow instead of concrete, and so dancing the first night was no small fete as everyone was slipping on the ice. By the end of the weekend, any movement at all was unpleasant as people were standing in puddles of water, beer, and probably some bodily fluids or stuck to the ground in thick mud. The crowd left their clubbing attire at home and sported their neon ski coats instead as they drifted through the clouds of cigarette and marijuana smoke. Despite the cold weather and the impossible dance floor, most importantly, the music was good." [cause=time]

The SnowBall Music Festival, for people not afraid to watch bands playing outside in freezing temperatures ("We recommend that you come prepared for snow and winter conditions. Temperatures are expected to be in the low 40° range during the day and in the teens at night. Please dress accordingly."), is returning to Vail Valley in Avon, CO from March 2 - 4, 2012. This year's lineup includes Big Boi, Big Freedia, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. (who just announced a Bowery Ballroom show), Deer Tick, Gauntlet Hair, Major Lazer, TV on the Radio, Thundercat, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and others (listed below)

Early bird and holiday special passes are sold out but regular passes and tickets for the festival are on sale now. Don't forget your "Warm Jackets, hats, gloves, and snow boots."

Current lineup below...

Continue reading "Snowball Music Festival is outside in the Winter in Colorado (2012 lineup) "