Julian “JuJu” Marley took to the Roots stage on Friday, performing his late father’s iconic Exodus album in its entirety. Backed with a live band, which included one of his father’s guitarists, Marley opened the set with “Natural Mystic” and performed half the album before going into some of his own original music. The latter half of the set saw Marley perform the remainder of Exodus, before closing with the title track of the album. For genuine Bob Marley fans, this was as close as they would get to seeing him perform live with The Wailers.

Riot Fest got a dose of both Wu Tang and Def Squad with back-to-back sets from Wu-Tang founding member GZA and rap duo Method Man and Redman. Method Man and Redman are well-known for their highly energetic and entertaining sets, that include choreographed dancing, ample crowd participation, and comic relief. The duo spent their hour-long set performing music from their collaborative albums, Blackout! and Blackout 2!, as well as their solo projects.

Nas kept it somewhat old school and opened his hour-long set (backed with a DJ and drummer/backup singer) with his 1999 hit “Hate Me Now.” The MC’s catalogue has grown so extensively over his 22-year career that he only performed one song from his 2012 studio album, Life Is Good (“The Don”), and not a single track from his 2004 album, Street’s Disciple or 2008’s controversial, Untitled. Regardless of whether he performed “N.Y. State of Mind,” “If I Ruled the World,” or “Hip Hop Is Dead,” the fans were consumed by the nostalgia: rocking with Nas from the first song to the last and rapping every lyric along with him.

Honorable Mention: With so many superb performers on the Riot Fest lineup this year, choosing just one artist to highlight here was tough. This year’s Riot Fest honorable mention goes to Denzel Curry and Joey Bada$$.

Not many artists can recover from abrupt and extended technical issues, but Florida-based MC, Denzel Curry was able to do just that when his DJ experienced sound issues early into his afternoon performance, forcing him to perform and freestyle sans music. But once the music began again, and much to the delight of his fans Curry stepped on the gas and never let up.

Joey Bada$$ is an MC that you can’t help but love – his lyrical style, the grittiness of his music, the creativity of his lyrics and his stage presence. Every few years, there is an up-and-coming MC who reminds legitimate hip hop heads of what the music and culture really is (and sometimes what it used to be). Joey Bada$$ is that MC.

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Sunday night at Northside Festival was a rainy night in Brooklyn, so of course Run the Jewels brought out special guest, Nas, to perform alongside them at 50 Kent. Killer Mike and El-P are the most charismatic frontmen. During the performance with Nas both men were hyped, jumping along with the beat and hitting the end of each line with an emphatic addition. Killer Mike was strutting behind Nas as he spit alone, a large grin spread across his face.

And across Brooklyn, Le1f brought his infectious, soda pop, hip hop to Brooklyn Bowl. Le1f is underground innovative for mixing his pop producing sensibilities with mile a minute rhyme spitting. He is also an adept performer, bringing fluid energy and a unique sense of fashion to the stage. His shows are beautiful pieces of art, where Le1f intertwines hip hop with body movement, bringing dance as an integral part of the performance. There’s a full length album coming on the horizon.

Though probably most famous (but hopefully not) for the debacle that was a certain sax riff re-appropriated for Top 40 success, Run the Jewels suggests that there’s definite space and need in hip hop for Le1f. Whether it’ll come in future head nods from more pop rappers or the continued influence of other artists, Le1f represents the up and coming that Killer Mike and El-P are heralding, after years toiling in the underground as critical darlings.

The post Northside NYC: It’s time to crown underground hip hop appeared first on Quip Magazine.

This year Bestival is going to invade Canada’s Hanlan’s Point Beach, Toronto Island on June 12 and 13, 2015. Featuring performers from across the globe the line up announcement undoubtedly made waves across the province and beyond.

The festival has proven to be an “undisputed leader when it comes to off-the-wall production” in the UK and for the Canadian edition the organizers are promising more than just a festival, in their own words this is going to be “a creative wonderland.”  In the introduction Bank said they were beyond excited to take the festival outside of UK: “We’ve spent 12 years working up to this moment and are so proud to be teaming up with Toronto to launch the good ship that is Bestival overseas.”

The headliners are Florence and The Machine and NAS, who are both touring throughout the festival season with their return productions. What we are most excited for here at Quip is the subsequently following leftfield acts: Flume, Caribou, SBTRKT, ZHU, and Jamie XX, just to name a few.

Bestival has a potential of becoming Toronto’s counterparts to major festivals like Osheaga and Lollapalooza. We cannot wait to see what the UK crew has brought for us and to keep the excitement going we are giving away a pair of Bestival passes to one lucky fan. It is easy. It could be you.

You can enter to win a pair of passed to Besitval Toronto using one of the methods listed below:

1. Tell us you want to go to Bestival Toronto by tweeting at @QuipMag using hashtag #WinBestivalTO and following @QuipMag on Twitter.

2. Follow @QuipMag on Instagram and like + comment on our Bestival photo expressing your interest in winning the passes.

3. If you are not on either platform you can simply comment on this post. Make sure to use your real email address as we will use it to contact the winner.

We will pick one random winner from all the submissions and contact them via direct message or email shortly after the contest closes on April 19, 2015.

Other important stuff: Contest starts Monday, April 13th, 2015 at 10am and ends on Sunday, April 19th, 2015 at 10pm EST. Winners will need to be able to show photo ID. One entry per person. The contest is open to all residents of the Canada excluding Quebec. Must be 19 years of age or older at the time of entry. Members of Quip Magazine or it’s affiliates are not eligible.

The post Introducing Bestival Toronto! Here’s your chance to win tickets to the festival appeared first on Quip Magazine.