School is out for the summer, if only for those of us at UCB. So, that means that this announcement, the announcement for the line-up of arguably the biggest and most anticipated hip-hop festival on the planet was just around the corner. Yes, the bill for this year’s Rock The Bells Festival was, as it always is, freestyled by hip-hop legend Supernatural. Only this time, the announcement was accompanied by a beat box from a West Coast hip-hop god, the man, the myth, the multi-instrumentalist super producer and silky smooth rhymer hailing from the streets of Compton—DJ Quik. And, as if things couldn’t get any better, this year’s Rock The Bells will be a two-day festival. Two days filled with some of the greatest artists to ever pick up a mic (Nas, Ice Cube, RZA, and the list goes on). The line-up, which also features Bay Area icons like E-40 and Too $hort, is just as dope as the way in which it was announced. So, without further adieu, here is the line-up with the dates and locations so you know where to drive, fly, or hitch-hike (be careful out there) this summer to bask in what should prove to be hip-hop ecstasy (again, be careful and drink lots of water):
2 Chainz*
ASAP Rocky*
Atmosphere*
Big Daddy Kane
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
Deltron 3030
Dipset
DJ Lance Rock and Friends
DJ Quik
E-40 and Too Short*
Eligh, Grouch and Zion I
Fashawn
Hit Squad Reunion
Ice Cube
Immortal Technique
J Cole*
Kendrick Lamar*
Kid Cudi*
Mac Miller*
Missy Elliott and Timbaland
Murs
Nas
Naughty By Nature
Prodigy
Redman and Method Man
Salt-N-Pepa
Schoolboy Q
Slick Rick
Supernatural
RZA
Tyga
Watsky
Wiz Khalifa*
Yelawolf
Dom Kennedy
* notes performance on select dates only
ROCK THE BELLS 2012 FESTIVAL SERIES DATES & VENUES:
08/19 – 08/20 San Bernardino, CA – NOS Events Center
08/25 – 08/26 Mountain View, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre
09/01 – 09/02 Holmdel, NJ – PNC Arts Center
