This year's hip-hop festival Rock the Bells pushes something Pitchfork and ATP has tried before to the hilt: Nine of its headlining acts will perform their groundbreaking albums in full.
The one everyone will be frothing at the mouth to hear? The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Ms. Lauryn herself. And then it's a toss-up between Nas' 1994 album Illmatic and Black Star's Mos Def & Talib Kweli' are Black Star.
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The festival kicks off in SoCal on Aug. 20 at
San Manuel Amphitheater in Devore. Who else will be there, you ask? Cypress Hill is recreating Black Sunday, GZA is doing Liquid Swords again, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah are doing Only Built for Cuban Linx, Mobb Deep is doing The Infamous, Souls of Mischief are performing 93 till Infinity and Masta Killa will play No Said Date. The festival will be hosted by The RZA, MURS 3:16, and Supernatural.
The Guerilla Union pre-sale will go on at
June 3 at 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The general on-sale starts on June 4.
Visit www.rockthebells.net for the exact lineup per city.
Here's the complete lineup:
Lauryn Hill: Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Nas: Illmatic w/ AZ, Pete Rock and DJ Premier
Cypress Hill: Black Sunday
Erykah Badu *
Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are Black Star
Raekwon and Ghostface Killah: Only Built for Cuban Linx
Mobb Deep: The Infamous
The Gza: Liquid Swords
Immortal Technique
Slaughterhouse
Mac Miller *
Curren$y *
Souls of Mischief: 93 till Infinity
Black Moon
Childish Gambino
Blu and Exile
Fashawn
Random Axe *
Mastah Killah: No Said Date
Evidence
Macklemore
Freddie Gibbs
Roc Marciano
*only performing select dates