Rock The Bells Tour Lineup Announced, The Hip-Hop Heavens Part

by Alex Gilman · May 25, 2011

    [Mos Def photo via] I think I owe Lauryn Hill an apology. Earlier this year in a set of pre-Coachella tips, I speculated that Ms. Hill's set would be one you could safely miss, and I then went on to posit that Pras was the most successful Fugee. Well, as per usual, listening to me was a terrible idea, because by all accounts, Lauryn completely killed it at Coachella. But I don't make the same mistake twice, so when it was announced that she would be headlining this year's Rock The Bells tour along with a super-impressive who's-who in hip-hop including Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Nas, Erykah Badu, Cypress Hill, and most of the Wu-Tang Clan, I knew that I wasn't going to miss this for anything.

    Oh yeah, and the best part? Following what's become an ongoing Rock The Bells tradition, Ms. Hill will be one of several performers whose set will consist of a classic album performed in its entirety, in her case, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. As you can see on the flyer, there's more than a few more of these can't-miss full albums, including Mos and Talib doing Black Star, Nas doing Illmatic (with Pete Rock, DJ Premier and even AZ to deliver the full experience!) and GZA, Raekwon and Ghostface doing (in my opinion) the two best Wu solo albums, Cuban Linx and Liquid Swords.

    [Childish Gambino photo via] And you're going to want to see the undercard, too: Curren$yChildish Gambino (also known as Donald Glover from "Community"), and Freddie Gibbs are among the borderline/soon-to-be household names who are pretty much guaranteed to bring some serious energy to their sets.

    So, details: it's all going down August 20 at the San Manuel Ampitheatre in San Bernardino. Tickets go on sale June 4, so start checking the official website soon to get yours. And if you see Ms. Lauryn Hill, tell her I'm back on the bandwagon and her fans can stop hate-mailing me, would you?