Roots Picnic Lineup: Naughty By Nature, Macklemore, Solange, DJ Premier, Trinidad James Identity Ink PreSale

June 1 The 6th Annual Roots Picnic

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Start: Thu, 01/24/13 12:00 PM ESTEnd: Thu, 01/24/13 11:59 PM EST
Ticket Link http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/02004A32DB6E9427

Lineup 

The Roots
Gary Clark, Jr.
Macklemore
Ryan Lewis
Grimes
Naughty By Nature
Araabmuzik
DJ Premier
Solange
Trinidad James
Gaslamp Killer
Hit Boy
How To Dress Well
Joey Bada$$
Robert Glasper
Sonnymoon
Lushlife

The roster of artists for the 6th Annual Roots Picnic Festival, taking place June 1 at Festival Pier at Penns Landing in Philadelphia, has been announced.

This year, the lineup includes headliners and festival organizers The Roots backing Naughty By Nature for a full set. Performers during the event include Grimes, Gary Clark Jr., Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Solange Knowles, Joey Bada$$, How to Dress Well, Sonnymoon, Jennah Bell, Trinidad Jame$, Robert Glasper, Lushlife, DJ Premier, Hit-Boy, The Gaslamp Killer and araabMUZIK.

Shawn Gee, executive producer of the Roots Picnic who co-manages the group with Richard Nichols, explains that event organizers including Questlove and Black Thought spent months curating a lineup with promoter Live Nation. Like with previous years, which has featured The Black Keys, Gnarls Barkley and Rakim, Gee says that the intention is to offer a diverse group of artists and expose fresh talent.

"We feel this is probably our most balanced year," says Gee, who is also president of music and entertainment at SEFG and serves as a touring consultant for the Blueprint Group. "From an artist's perspective, people understand that the talent pool is handpicked by ?uestlove and the team. They want to play, because they understand what The Roots stand for and what we've built for the past five years."

"The hardest thing is catching acts that are just getting buzz so you can get them on the cusp," Questlove told Billboard. "I thought instantly that Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were going to be poppin. And just on a hunch, I was like, 'Alright.' We hit them and they agreed. Sure enough, after the album came out, they just became unstoppable."

Questlove uses the relationships he's buit on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" to handpick acts. "Now that we've worked at 'Fallon,' it's more sweet than it's ever been," he said. "You have to keep in mind that the picnic started three years before we started with Jimmy Fallon. So the process in the beginning was really tough because we had to go through agents and managers. Once I realized that the real advantage of working at Fallon kind of cut the red tape, it allowed us to deal with the artists one-on-one."

Last year, the festival was spread out over two days, touting performances from Wale, De La Soul, Rakim, Major Lazer, Danny Brown and more. Instead of taking up a full weekend, Gee says that this year's consolidation to one day is the only change that attendees can expect from the concert, which will feature its signature DJ tent as well as a main stage.

"Last year was very successful based on the talent we were able to go after," says Gee. "Every year, it all starts with the talent. When we laid out the talent list, we thought it would be more effective to focus on one day and really balancing out one day versus stretching out for two days based off of the talent that we wanted to go after this year." 

Via http://www.billboard.com/column/the-juice/roots-picnic-lineup-naughty-by-nature-macklemore-1008106162.story?utm_source=most_recent#/column/the-juice/roots-picnic-lineup-naughty-by-nature-macklemore-1008106162.story?utm_source=most_recent

Swizz Beatz Revisits His Beginnings

Swizz Beatz revealed that his uncles and LOX member Sheek Louch convinced him to begin producing as a teen; he initially saw himself solely as a DJ. In a recent interview, he talked about those beginnings in the late 80s/early 90s.

"I got my start with Ruff Ryders in ’91ish, ‘92ish – nah, ’88. That’s when Ruff Ryders first started," he said. "My uncle started it, and my Uncle B came along...I was DMX’s DJ for a long time. I didn’t even care about being a producer. I didn’t have no role models as producers back then because to me, it was all about the DJs. Producers weren’t in the forefront at that time. But I was a fan of DJs that were producing, like DJ Premier, like rest in peace Scott La Rock, Marley Marl…I was fans of those guys. Diamond D and them, that whole crew. But I ain’t know they were producers."

"I got into producing when my uncles and them, and I remember Sheek Louch also, I used to make mixtapes and I used to make my intros to my mixtapes so people could rap on it," he continued. "I didn’t know that was producing. I thought it was just making the intro for your mixtape. I wasn’t familiar with that word ‘producing.’ They was like take all of those words and all that stuff out, and I did that. They was like, that beat is knocking. Make another one of those. And my uncle was like, you should produce. I was like, produce? He said what you doing is producing. At this time, he was working with Irv Gotti, Chad Elliott, he had bought them all equipment and they was in the studio and they was supposed to teach me. They would teach me like this. That’s how you make the beat. Real fast. I had to teach myself because they was so busy doing they thing, and I was glad I was able to teach myself."

DJ Premier On Justin Bieber

DJ Premier may have been accused of being hard on pop star Justin Bieber's hip hop skills during the BET Hip Hop Awards Cyphers, but Preemo says he's a fan of the young star. It was rumored that Premier had kept the Beebs out of the Cypher because Justin wasn't writing his own rhymes.

But the producer says he'd love to collaborate with the kid.

“I’d love to work with him, just as long as he writes it,” he said. “He’s gotta sit there in front of me and write it. I’d love to work with him and it would be dope.”

DJ Premier Rejected Justin Bieber?

Apparently, pop star Justin Bieber wanted to take part in the BET Awards Cyphers this year. But the teenage sensation was shot down by producer DJ Premier, who hosted the Cyphers, which featured some of the most respected emcees in the game (and Chris Brown.)

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According to Primo's blog, Beebs asked if he could take part but wanted Ludacris to write his rhymes.

Premier has no beef with Bieber, but was adamantly against ghostwriting in the Cypher. So he rejected Bieber's request. The Cyphers are meant to showcase each rapper's skills and having someone else write your rhymes goes against the spirit of the showcase.

Game Lands At #1

Rapper Game's fourth album, The R.E.D. Album has landed at the #1 spot in the country, having sold 97, 528 copies since it was released on August 23rd. The album bumped Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne to the #2 spot. This is the rapper's third album to reach the top spot on the charts.

"It feels amazing to be back on top," exclaims Game. "My fans are incredibly loyal. I was able to step away from music for some much needed personal time with my family. And now that I've returned with a new album, they've come out strong to support me. I wouldn't be where I am today without my fans. Period."

The album features production from legends like Dr. Dre and DJ Premier with contributions from guests like Drake, Nelly Furtado, Young Jeezy, Big Boi and Rick Ross.

Rock the Bells Lineup Announced

The Rock the Bells 2011 Festival lineup has been announced. Series. This year's event, presented by Boost Mobile, will feature the usual bevy of stars, including Ms. Lauryn Hill, Nas, Cypress Hill, Mos Def & Talib Kweli, Raekwon & Ghostface Killah.

The stars will be performing their most beloved classic albums in their entirety; a relatively new tradition that began last year. Lauryn Hill will perform The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, while Cypress Hill will perform Black Sunday, Mobb Deep will perform The Infamous, Black Star will perform Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star, and Nas will treat the crowd to a performance of his masterpiece, 1994's Illmatic, alongside DJ Premier, Pete Rock and AZ.

“For years people have been asking me to do Illmatic in so many ways, from stage plays to movies to books, but the time wasn't right. Where music is going now, the time is right,” said Nas in a statement. "This will be my biggest production and it only makes sense to do it on the best rap tour which also happens to be a brand I've built and am a partner in. Can't wait to kill it with my comrades AZ, Premo & Pete Rock!"

The 8th annual RTB festival will also feature the Paid Dues Stage, curated by Murs, the GrindTime Now Stage (showcasing battles), and the 36 Chambers Stage, featuring Wu-Tang Clan members and affiliates. “I am excited that I once again have the privilege of hosting the Paid Dues Stage,” he said. “We will have the honor of showcasing some of the best talent in independent hip hop as part of the worlds largest and longest running hip hop festival... the Paid Dues stage is gonna be the one to watch this year.”

Rock the Bells 2011 will be hitting San Bernadino and Mountainview, CA, Boston and New York City.

DJ Premier vs. Canibus

Legendary producer DJ Premier and respected emcee Canibus have been embroiled in a war of words ever since Primo admitted in an interview with DJ Vlad that Canibus was one of his most difficult collaborators to work with. Premier did some production work on Canibus' infamously disappointing 1998 debut album Can-I-Bus.

Canibus responded to Premier's statements with the antagonistic "Tell the Truth/Monster."

"After [Canibus] watched [the DJ Vlad interview], obviously he responded, which I didn't even expect him to do," Premier said on the Headquarterz radio show. "Because he's angry, saying, why am I even bringing up something that's fourteen years old, and bringing it up now?"

"He said, and I quote, 'Why shovel sh*t on me?' which I didn't do," Primo continued. "'Who you working for?' I work for myself, I'm self-employed at Year Round Records. He said, 'What agenda do you have, and how [are you] helping Hip Hop by doing that?' I'm helping Hip Hop by doing this show right here, 'Live From Headquarterz.'"