The Paid Dues Music Festival, presented by Murs & Guerilla Union, went down this past weekend in Southern California, and AllHipHop.com was on hand to cover it. Over 40 acts hit three different stages in a period of 10 hours to give the crowd some good ol’ head-nodding and body-moving Hip-Hop.
Wu-Tang Clan was one of the special headlining acts this year, and they rocked classic after classic for a sea of eager fans who sang along to each lyric. Three-Six Mafia had the Monster Energy Stage in a party frenzy with their heavy, bass-boomin’ jams. The crowd energy got the group members going as they jumped from the stage, over the photographer pit, and into the audience (almost hitting me, by the way).
DJ Quik’s show was another super live performance. The Compton native had the West Coast crowd grooving and really set them off when he brought out Bizzy Bone from Bone Thugs N Harmony to perform “Notorious Thugs”, along with his longtime collaborator Suga Free for a few of their classics. The big star of the night was Kendrick Lamar. His venue was so overcrowded that the police were brought in to prevent more people from getting inside. You could hear the inside crowd loudly chant “Kendrick” from outside of the building. The Top Dawg Entertainment artist has truly arrived in the rap game and the home crowd let him know it.
Other acts like Heiroglyphics, Boot Camp Clik, Trek Life, Dipset, Dilated Peoples, Lecrae, and Ras Kass all gave worthy performances. It was hard to catch all of the acts because their set times overlapped each other. Festivals of this caliber are nearly impossible to witness in their entirety. We tried, though, although I know we missed some other good performances, but we were able to grab some pictures for you all.
Check out AllHipHop.com’s Paid Dues Festival photo gallery below. Click on the thumbnails to see each full-sized picture:
