Soundcheck: Rock The Bells 2012 Announces Stellar Setlist & Murs Exclusive
posted in: Features • Urban
Boost Mobile and Guerilla Union hosted a star-studded event at Hollywood’s House of Blues Wednesday night to announce the lineup for their 2012 Rock The Bells Festival Series. Supernatural rapped a four-minute freestyle of the ridiculously talented roster of headliners over an impromptu live beat-box from DJ Quik to an enthusiastic crowd; with many of the list’s all-stars sitting right behind him.
The lyrical listing included 2 Chainz, ASAP Rocky, Atmosphere, Big Daddy Kane, Dipset, E-40 and Too Short, DJ Quik, Ice Cube, J. Cole, Missy Elliott and Timbaland, and Salt & Peppa.
Full of famous faces, legends and newbies, mainstream headliners and indie heroes, Rock The Bells looks like the most epic hip hop line-up of the year.
Supernatural went on to announce the newbies like Schoolboy Q, Tyga, Wiz Khalifa, Yelawolf, Mac Miller, Kendrick Lamar, along with veterans Slick Rick & Doug E Fresh, Lupe Fiasco, Nas, Naughty By nature, Method Man & Redman, Prodigy, Kid Cudi, Bone Thugs “N- Harmony, among others.
We caught up with Murs backstage to talk about his involvement in the festival. I will be performing with Fashawn, we’re working on a record, we’ll be promoting two EPs, one will come out at the beginning of the festival. I’m happy Rock The Bells is stepping up, I’m excited about the line up, he said. He also revealed that he had a lot to do with linking up some of the stellar set list, and recalled how he helped usher into the limelight this year’s Goldenboy, Kendrick Lamar. Last year Kendrick Lamar was on this stage right here and everyone looked at him like he was nobody. Now if he came up here there would be a riot at the House of Blues. He’s a headliner.
We also chatted about Murs’ unprecedented new gig as co-curator for the LACMA hip-hop concert series, Though The Mic, kicking off May 17. We wanna be the first museum to put hip-hop on the same level of jazz as an art, and they thought I’d be the perfect person to do it, he said. At first, I thought they were playing; I was waiting to call their bluff because I never thought that could be the case. Music touches places you have no idea. College kids listen to my music and identify and associate with my music and that’s why I get calls from museums.
I stopped by LACMA on Thursday night to see this first-ever hip-hop concert series. The monthly event will feature emerging and experimental L.A.“based hip-hop artists. The series kicked off with a special performance by 3MG: Murs, Eligh, and Scarub, formerly known as 3 Melancholy Gypsys; reuniting onstage for the first time in five years for this special performance. The sold-out event was a sight to see, with the most diverse crowd of every race, age, and socioeconomic background vibing to the inspiring efforts of 3MG. It was amazing to see hip-hop presented in such a powerful setting – watching the crowd was like art in motion, bridging gaps before our eyes, through powerful prose and a beat that is unmistakably West Coast.
We’re getting to the age where it’s our job to become patrons of the art and to get us in there. They want me to bridge that gap. They think its important and I do too. I hope everyone else does.
Judging from the crowd Thursday night, everyone else does, indeed.