This year’s Rock The Bells festival was not at the usual NOS Event Center in San Bernardino, but at the ass crack of all Inland Empire venues, the San Manuel Amphitheater. This year’s line-up is one of the best I've seen in a couple of years. The talent ranged from Black Moon, Nas, Erykah Badu, Lauren Hill, and Mobb Deep.    

At any given moment you could be caught off guard with the wide yet limited variety of fans. You have the typical saggy jean hip-hop heads who dominated the crowd, to the ultra-hip intellectual looking types to the 40-year-old mother of 3. That is the beauty of hip hop festivals, they attracted a large fan base that penetrate many similar cultures and some that don't look like the type. 

Bar far the most note worthy of this festival was Erykah Badu's performance. With another shocking hair style Badu is now cutting it close to the scalp. No longer will we see the tremendous afro that we all are accustomed too or the bright blonde Mohawk seen at Lollapalooza 2010. Her very presence can spark nervous giggles but its her vivacious voice that will shut you up.    

Strutting out in a black blazer with a tall dark brown top hat fastened with a purple ribbon she looks like she was straight out of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. The only difference was that she was doused in gold plated armor from her wrist to her elbow and had about five shiny gold chains swaying from her hips. He performance was quirky and elegant, fun and graceful. The pairing of those four things can be utterly impossible for most, but Badu does it without flinching. 

The band behind her were some of the youngest big band performers I've ever seen. The age group of these artists ranged from their early twenties to there early thirties.. well except for the flute man who looked about in his forties. He was just as outlandish as Badu herself sporting white, green and red striped suspenders and a red painter's hat. I guess he decided that his skills on a traditional flute and a pan pipe would accent his attire well, which it did.

"Happy To See You Again," was one of the first songs played and I felt it was an appropriate intro. 

"The Healer," and "I Want You" were sprinkled into the set. The refreshing thing about her set was the large band that was with her, four background vocalists, keyboardist, drummer and percussionist, a Dj, bassist, guitarist and flute player added a whole new meaning to live performance. 

At hip-hop shows the most you get is a Dj and maybe a percussionist. But it was made clear that she wasn't messing around for Rock The Bells 2011. 

Nas performing his "Illmatic" album in its entirety was a very special moment for anyone who loves hip-hop. It took about 45 minutes for the stage to be set up to Nas' standards. An interview with Nas about his debut and history making album "Illmatic" played while a black curtain was risen to keep the set a mystery. While the set was being built, Peter Rosenberg of New York's Hot 97 radio station, spoke on the mic to hype up the crowd. For ten minutes he did shout outs to all the west coast underground hip-hop artists and promoted his radio show.

Finally when the curtain dropped drapes a tall as the vertical length of the stage were just as brick buildings in the Bronx.

The crowd rocked out and jumped up as Nas spit the rhymes that changed hip-hop inevitably. 

During "Memory Lane" artist Ron Artest (professional basketball player turned hip-hop artist) had all those Laker fans in a frenzy.  But Nas didn't stop there. Common came out to spit "Ghetto Dreams"- as if having Dj Premier holding it down on the ones and twos and Pete Rock as your special guest wasn't down right mind boggling enough.

Now many artists did one of their albums in there entirety but none quite like Mobb Deep, especially when" Shook Ones Pt II" blasted from the speakers. The "Infamous" album is one of those that takes the world by storm and has hits that are recognizable by those who don't even listen to hip-hop.

Raekwon and Ghostface Killah did a collaborative performance for their time on stage performing the album "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx." Being a members of the infamous Wu-Tang Clan they acquired the help from long time friend and Wu-Tang affiliate Coppadonna. "Incarcerated Scarfaces," "Criminology," and "Ice Cream," were the big crowd pleasers during their set.  

Black Moon was on stage earlier in the day and caught a large crowd.  Black Moon definitely wasn't the best performance of the day, and left me bored at times. But "Powaful Impak,"  "How Many MC's...,"  and "Buck em Down" did have their affect on the crowd's liveliness. 
The only problem for the audience at the two smaller stages was that the stage was facing the same way as the sun. For the hundreds of people who endured blinding sunlight and intense heat, I give you props.  

Side note: I thought there were professionals organizing the festivals at the San Manuel Amphitheater, if so, why can't they figure out a way to make the  crowd as comfortable as possible BEFORE the sun goes down?   

To end the evening Lauryn Hill performed with a big band behind her as well. What really surprised me was how much better her performance was compared to her Paid Dues 2010 performance. Buy hey, they can't all be great. Except for this particular performance.  
"Doo Wop (That Thing)," "Lost Ones," and "Ex Factor," were the top notch played and after that night I can't say a bad thing about her.         

Pics coming soon!