Nas performs at O2 Academy Glasgow on June 2, 2015 in Glasgow.
Ross Gilmore/Redferns via Getty Images
Nas, Fabolous, Talib Kweli and Rapsody are the first big names announced for the 12th annual Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival. The annual event, produced by Brooklyn Bodega, Inc. and the Bodega Agency, will take place on July 13-16 and give fans four days of beats, rhymes, film, photography, DJs, b-boys and b-girls, food and fashion.
The house DJ for the event will be Rob Swift, who will keep things going along with hosts Uncle Ralph McDaniels (co-creator of Video Music Box) and Torae, with more artists set to be announced soon. The first two days of the event will take place at Medgar Evers College in Crown Heights (the Hip-Hop Institute on July 13, the Dummy Clap Film Festival on July 14), with the Juice Hip-Hop Exhibition setting up at St. Ann’s Warehouse in DUMBO on July 15 and the main stage for the finale concert setting up under the Brooklyn Bridge on July 16.
“We are also thrilled to be coming back to Brooklyn Bridge Park,” BK Hip-Hop Dest executive director Wes Jackson said in a statement announcing the lineup after previously holding the event at 50 Kent Ave. “Our programming belongs right here in this world class park.”
Previous years’ lineups have been similarly star-studded, with Common, Raekwon, Jay Electronica, Q-Tip, Busta Rhymes, Ghostface Killah and other luminaries occupying the top slot on the lineup. But part of the festival’s appeal over the years has always been the quality of its surprise guests; in various years, Jay Z, Kanye West, Mac Miller, J. Cole and plenty more all stopped by to guest on stage or hang out nearby. More artists will be announced as the festival’s dates get closer.
Click here to buy tickets to the festival.