Rock the Bells

This year’s 2007 ROCK THE BELLS Festival has definitely lived up to its hype as a true world-class hip hop platform. Beginning July 28th with back to back shows in New York, NY and ending September 1st in beautiful Honolulu, Hawaii and 13 major city stops in between, Rock The Bells will definitely go down as a legendary hip hop festival.

Headlining the tour was the VOLTRON of rap music, the one and only WU-TANG CLAN in its entirety. Followed by NAS the Illmatic street disciple. Other bands varied from city to city due to conflicting tours and regional hip hop "turf rights,” but the tour maintained a solid backbone with such artists as: Talib Kweli, MF DOOM, Pharoe Monch, Immortal Technique, Slum Village, MOS DEF, Hieroglyphics CREW, UGK, Blackalicious, Jedi Mind Tricks, Cypress Hill, Erykah Badu, The Roots, M.O.P., EPMD, Boot Camp Klick and more. Many Rhymesayers, Living Legends, and Definitive Jux artists performed as well in select venues. And of course, who could forget Rage Against the Machine, who played mainly West Coast venues because they had just kicked off a reunion tour. So, as you can see this was a vast array of talented musicians with a contrast of styles. That’s what made this tour incredible.

I was fortunate enough to catch the August 26th show at The Charter One Pavillion in Chicago. First off, it was that perfect day for a concert. Nothing but Sunshine, blue skies and mild breeze. The beer was cold and the fans seemed to be in good spirits. An ideal setting for a Sunday Funday with a good ol' hip hop extravaganza. There didn’t seem to be a dull moment. From the tenacious lyrical spitfire of Jedi Mind Tricks, to my man Immortal Technique ripping a live show rocking a red Michael Vick jersey, and then NAS and the whole WU-TANG CLAN performing some of their classic jams. Definitely one for the archives.

Big ups to all those with GUERILLA UNION and ROCK THE BELLS for putting together such a sick tour with a crazy talented lineup of genuine artists. None of that B.S. music repeatedly spun on top 40 rotations. Many are saying that hip hop as a culture has fallen off by becoming too commercial, but I’m going to have to agree to disagree. Like RZA recently stated in an interview, " How can hip hop be dead when WU-TANG is FOREVER!" That’s ill. Sorry NAS; Great song, great album, but I think RZA may have the upper hand in that debate.

Photos and Text By: Phil Swift - Contributing Writer