The line-up for Rock the Bells has been rock solid for the past couple of years. I’m looking forward to what’s in store for this year’s offering. I’m not afraid to admit that my favorite part of their launch parties are Supernatural’s line-up freestyle. Get with it.

House of Blues
8430 W. Sunset Blvd.
W. Hollywood, CA

18+ | $25
Doors open @ 9pm
Get tickets here

Word by Alex “Dweezy” Dwyer

Thorough branding is the most evident indicator of successful marketing. Selling thousands of tees years before even releasing a drop of music, La Coka Nostra has been on top of their brand building from the jump. The rap collective of Everlast, DJ Lethal, Danny Boy, Ill Bill and Slaine recently reaped the fruits of their boisterous branding while performing at Rock The Bells main stages across the country. Seeking refuge from a sweltering rap festival day in the Inland Empire, Vapors spoke about the group’s ethos, drugs and the debut album “A Brand You Can Trust,” with LCN’s Ill Bill after a performance.

What did you think of your set and the crowd today?
It was dope. It’s been the same. We’ve been on the main stage and it’s just cool to get out there. This is our first time ever really touring. We’ve never really toured. Just this year we started touring now that we got the record out. That’s the way it kind works. You gotta drop that record and its full speed ahead.

In comparison to your Non-Phixon work, were you a different MC on this project?
I’m not any different on anything I do really. What I bring to the table in anything I do is me. It’s not different. Obviously the group is a different group but what I bring to the table is what I bring to the table. I got my own flavor and my own brand.

“Brand.” That seems to be theme with this album. What does that word mean to you?
It’s not gonna fail you. We show and prove. We could tell you that we’re the shit, that we’re a movement. We could talk about all that shit all day long about creating our own lane or whatever but we’re creating our own highway. It goes back to smoking PCP and that branding of the drugs, the purple rain. You could get the envelopes with that Crazy Eddie symbol on them. You could go to Harlem and buy PCP and they would brand those little envelopes. Our logo is one of those logos that you could see being on a drug bag. Overall it’s just us doing what we love and connecting with a lot of kids without trying to connect. Just putting the music out there and having them gravitate towards it.

You guys don’t seem to be going with Hip-Hop’s usual drug associations, as pushers, you go at it with a different angle…
Drugs are a part of Hip-Hop. For us, we’re not talking about selling kilos, we’re not drug dealers. It’s a metaphor really for the name of the group, which is a play off of La Cosa Nostra. That means “this thing of ours,” but we’re La Coka Nostra, “this drug of ours.” So that’s music as a drug. It’s a way of life. It’s addictive. Love is a drug. Anything that you can become addicted to is. We’re addicted to music, It’s more than an addiction it’s part of our lives.

What about the nationalism in your music, the American spirit, “the blowjob and a pizza?”
I wouldn’t call it nationalism, sarcastic nationalism if anything. (Laughs)

How do you feel about being American right now?
I’m a proud American. At the same time, a major reason that I am proud is because of the fact that we can pull cards. We do have that freedom of speech to say what we wanna say and help spark change, influence change and be a part of that change in whatever direction we want to change. There are a lot of intangibles that are whack, a lot of criticism that we could throw at America. To me it’s one-dimensional to be like, “fuck the government, kill the police.” There has to be some kind of balance. That’s what we’re about, trying to have that balance and that contradiction in music because life is contradictory. I don’t think contradiction is a bad word. Life is ever changing, constantly evolving and I think La Coka Nostra represents that.

Photos by: Ace Knuckles

At Rock the Bells in San Bernadino, it was a great day to be in California. Backdropped by a characteristically Californian 86-degree sun,  hip-hop enthusiasts were blessed with performances from some of Cali’s best: La Coka Nostra, Cypress Hill, Evidence, Alchemist, and Ice Cube.  They shared stages with Nas, Damien Marley, The Roots, Reflection Eternal, Slum Village, Busta Rhymes, Big Boi, Murs, Pete Rock, Raekwon, RZA, and GZA among others who rocked both stages for almost 11 hours straight.

Main stage performer Tech N9ne, who is releasing his 10th studio album K.O.D. this Fall, shared what keeps his stage show kinetic. “[You have to] keep the energy up…it has to be ‘out of this world’ because ‘out of this world’ will never depreciate.”  The energy from this Rock the Bells tour has already led to a Slaughterhouse + Tech N9ne tour this October.

Ice Cube closed the show and summoned up enough West Coast love to resurrect Tupac. I knew he struck a cord when our photographer started crip-walking (no lie!). If you missed the festival, you can live vicariously through the photos after the jump

Photos by Ashley Queen

Before midnight, right after Tech N9ne’s suprise set, a guy behind me screamed “I’m loving this shit!!!” I don’t know if he was drunk or not, but I can’t blame him for not being able to contain himself. In a matter of 2 hours, fans were treated to surprise performances by Nas, Damien Marley, Raekwon, Murs,  Supernatural and Psycho Realm with a suprise appearance from B-Real and Fatlip on the tables. These artists along with Common, Reflection Eternnal, Big Boi, The Roots, RZA and Slum Village (T3, Elzhi, AND Baatin!) will be gracing the stage at this year’s Rock The Bells Festival. This year’s tour will kick off on June 27 and run on consecutive weekends in 10 cities (Toronto, Washington D.C., Boston, New York, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and Vancouver) through August 9. The inauguration at the Key Club Sunset set the bar and expections high for what to expect this year. All present talent agreed that they are looking forward to sharing the stage with each other this summer. “Its a blessing to share the stage with these brothers,” Supernatural shared. Everyone will be practicing their own rituals in order to bring the heat on stage. Murs confided that he wears the same Vans and hoodie all tour, Sick Jacken of Psycho Realm only needs a bottle of whiskey and clean underwear to keep him happy and Raekwon just smokes a blunt and is “good to go.” From the energy & anticipation generated from the performances and press conference this summer is going to get a lot hotter with Rock the Bells. Relive the experience when you

Photos by: Ashley Queen

Words by: Yo Mama

I have to admit I pouted for the first 2-3 hours of Rock the Bells. My ticket only granted me access to the nosebleed section and I wasn’t about to see Pharcyde from that kind of ungodly distance. I have to admit the press was treated like an illegitimate step child while groupies and homies of the band had all sorts of unspeakable access. I digress. Thanks to some cleavage and an altruistic security guard, I was able to see the ATCQ reunion from the front of the stage. That extinguished any snark I had from my experience. Rock the Bells was still the shit this year with an impeccable line up including but not limited to: Nas, Mos Def, Immortal Technique, De La Soul and many more. If you were on the second stage, maybe you caught the MF Doom “imposter“. Hip hop hilarity! See more pictures from Rock the Bells 2008 below