With the Firefly Music Festival less than 24 hours away, AllHipHop.com has decided to highlight five acts that you need to see if you plan on attending this weekend’s three-day event in Dover, Delaware.
Following up on our coverage of events like the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, The Bamboozle and Soundset, we’d like to put five performers on your radar that you may or may not be familiar with.
If you haven’t gotten them already, tickets for this weekend’s festival are still available at FireflyFestival.com.
Check our “5 ArtistS To Catch At This Weekend’s Firefly Music Festival” below:
5. Chiddy Bang
The Hip-Hop duo made up of producer Xaphoon Jones and rapper Chiddy, who is also a Guinness World Record holder for “Longest Freestyle Rap,” has been one of the greatest success stories to watch over the past few years. After numerous mixtapes and EP releases, Chiddy Bang dropped their debut album, Breakfast, this past February and have been touring the world ever since with their high-energy brand of “alternative Hip-Hop.” Chiddy Bang will be rocking The Backyard Stage on Saturday afternoon from 5:30 to 6:30PM.
[Follow Chiddy Bang on Twitter: @ChiddyBang]
4. The Knocks
Dubbed by NME Magazine as one of the “20 hottest producers in music right now,” the electronic production duo of B-Roc and JPatt have delivered top-notch performances at festivals and events around the world including a seizure-inducing (that’s a good thing in this case) performance down in Austin, Texas during South By Southwest (SXSW) this past March. The Knocks are at the forefront of the electronic music and dance scene right now, and their mid-afternoon performance on The Backyard Stage this weekend is surely one not to be missed!
[Follow The Knocks on Twitter: @TheKnocks]
Following their stellar cover of Kanye West’s “Flashing Lights” (see above) and an early July performance of their song “Spottie” in front of a hometown Chicago crowd on Conan, Kids These Days are breaking down the classifications of musical genres and reconfiguring them to create something totally soulful, rhythmic and unique. The group’s debut album, Traphouse Rock, is slated to drop this fall and you can catch them on The Porch Stage tomorrow from 12:30 to 1:30PM.
[Follow Kids These Days on Twitter: @KidsTheseDays]
It’s an extremely rare feat to accomplish but after seven albums The Black Keys have gotten both better and bigger. Even the Hip-Hop community has embraced the Akron, Ohio, natives with many notable rappers like Mos Def, M.O.P., Raekwon, and Q-Tip contributing to their 2009 collaborative album BlackRoc, which was released under the guidance of Dame Dash. If you didn’t catch it the first time, it’s not too late to discover this extraordinary album, especially since they are currently planning on releasing a sequel in the near future. The Black Keys, who are one of Firefly’s headlining acts will be closing out the festival Sunday night from 9:30 to 11:00PM on the main stage.
[Follow The Black Keys on Twitter: @TheBlackKeys]
1. Lupe Fiasco
One of the biggest names in the music industry is also this weekend’s sole Hip-Hop headliner. Lupe has been delivering top-notch music for years, and with the forthcoming release of his highly-anticipated new album, Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, set to drop on September 11, it’s not too late to see what exactly the Chi-town native has up his sleeve when it comes to performing live. You can catch Lupe doing his thing on The Backyard Stage from 8:00 to 9:15PM this Saturday night.
[Follow Lupe Fiasco on Twitter: @LupeFiasco]
If you’re interested in checking out what other must-see festivals are happening this summer, be sure to check out our “Be There” preview piece here.