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It wasn’t so long ago that Rock The Bells was a revivalist show, about reliving the past. I mean, hell, the name: “Rock the Bells”. Last year’s edition was all about legends, and by legends, we mean established stars (people that’ve been around the block) performing classic albums (stuff that’s been around for over ten years) in their entirety—Doggystyle, Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Illmatic and so forth. All great stuff really, but the backwards looking nature of the show might have implied hip-hop has already gone through its brightest moments long ago.

That’s going to change. This year’s RTB, presented by our buddies at Guerilla Union, will now be headlined by the new generation of hip-hop stars. Wiz Khalifa and Kid Cudi this year will share the headlining duties along with esteemed veteran Nas, who with Life Is Good coming next month will focus on new material. Filling out the top of the bill are twenty-somethings J. Cole, Lupe Fiasco, Mac Miller, and Kendrick Lamar. Now lest people start thinking this was going to be a new jack festival, we still have plenty of legends to justify the “Rock the Bells” name, with Ice Cube, Dipset, Method Man and Redman (performing Blackout in its entirety, so the concept of performing whole albums isn’t dead at all), a reunited Hit Squad–EPMD, Das EFX, Keith Murray, and K-Solo–and special appearances from Missy Elliott and Timbaland, and a reunited Bone Thugs-N-Harmony on the bill.

And that’s just the top of the bill. We have more names for you–do check out the flyer after the jump–but we should mention the venue and dates–and here’s another twist–we’ll be seeing more than one day of RTB at each venue. San Bernadino’s Nos Events Center will host RTB on August 18 to 19, Shoreline Ampitheatre in the Bay Area will be August 25 to 26, and the Tri-State area will have RTB in Holmdel, New Jersey at the PNC Bank Arts Center for September 1 to 2. We’ll have more information as to what to expect each day and when tickets are on sale and will post it once we get our hands on ‘em.

UPDATE: Shoreline Ampitheatre tickets presale will go down this Friday, May 18, from 10 AM to 10 PM Pacific time. Special presale password is “HISTORY”. Check out Live Nation for tickets. We’ll have more info here and on our Facebook page when it comes available. read more »

Remember dude at Rock The Bells in San Francisco a few weeks back rocking a Chewbacca costume hanging around with Random Axe onstage and causing a minor ruckus around the Paid Dues stage? Turns out he’s the titular star of the music video for Random Axe’s track. The video from director and SF’s own Noah Friedman takes us through the day of Chewbacca as he wakes up from his crib (somewhere in North Beach, I believe) and his day wilding on the grounds of the Shoreline Ampitheatre.

Hat tip: Okayplayer

And another one for you backstage at Rock The Bells 2001. B-Real and Davey D talks about the evolution of Cypress Hill on records and on stage, and how they are straddling the lines between hip-hop and hard rock.

Common’s chosen professional name is quickly becoming a misnomer, as it’s quite uncommon for anyone to rubs shoulders with Hollywood and The White House like he has. Davey D takes a moment to ask Common backstage at Rock The Bells what’s its like to be a rap and movie star, and what he could contribute to the Obama 2012 campaign.

Del tha Funkee Homosapien sits down with Davey D and talks about working with Ice Cube again, his line of headphones (sorta), and his inspirations, inside and outside of hip-hop.

Souls of Mischief sits down with Davey D backstage at Rock The Bells 2011 in Mountain View, California and talks to us about their career and legacy and what it means to have a classic album and fans that are even younger.

We’ll be posting more stuff to our YouTube channel, subscribe for more videos coming including more from Davey D’s interviews from Rock The Bells.

Rock The Bells, the hip-hop superfestival that has also become a Bay Area fixture every summer since 2005, just concluded west coast run last weekend with a show at the Shoreline Ampitheatre in Mountain View, Calfornia. We’ll have backstage interviews and other exclusive materials from the show later, but for now, take a look at the photos that Madelynn and Amari Kenoly took for us in the crowds and press pits.

Guerilla Union has announced this year’s Rock the Bells Festival lineup, which will tour with stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Boston. As with last year’s event, Rock the Bells is going classic, bringing in some of the biggest hip-hop artists around to perform their most memorable material. This year’s headliners are no strangers to the now-classic summertime hip-hop festival, as Ms. Lauryn Hill, performing songs from Miseducation, and Nas, performing from Illmatic, set to grace the same stage. Joining them on the classics tip are Cypress Hill, Mos Def and Talib Kweli as Black Star, half of the Wu-Tang (GZA, RZA as host, Ghost and Rae, and Masta Killah), Erykah Badu, Mobb Deep (along with Big Noyd), Immortal Technique, Black Moon, Souls of Mischief, Evidence of Dilated Peoples, and Slaughterhouse, the supergroup of Joe Budden, Royce the 5’9″, Joell Ortiz and Crooked I. For the cool kids, there’s Mac Miller, Blu, Exile and Fashawn, Childish Gambino (aka, Donald Glover of TV’s Community), Random Axe, Macklemore, Big KRIT, Freddie Gibbs and Roc Marciano, all there on support.

For more, check out rockthebells.net. The flyer is after the jump. read more »