Rock The Bells 2008 Recap

The Rock the Bells concert took place on August 9th in San Bernardino, CA at the Glen Helen Pavilion. Despite the heat, it was an amazing show and definitely worth it. Peep the full story to get a breakdown of the acts.

Main Stage:
Wale - A good way to kick off Rock The Bells. Wale (pronounced Wah-Lay) is a newcomer from DC. He performed tracks off his Mixtape About Nothing, and his most known track W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E.
Dead Prez - Dead Prez hit the stage to perform joints off Revolutionary But Gangsta and also tracks off of their debut LP Let's Get Free including the classic "Hip Hop".
Murs - Rock The Bells was my first time hearing from Murs and he's kinda nice. Murs surprised the crowd by bringing out West Coast pioneer Dj Quik. Unfortunately Dj Quik only performed two songs, it was still a dope surprise appearance.
Immortal Technique - Immortal Technique brought out underground mc Chino XL onto stage as he preached to the crowd. Immortal Technique dropped dope, sophisticated rhymes filled with knowledge and aggression.
Rakim - I would hate to say this about the God MC, but his performance was a bit lethargic. The music was dope as always, but he could've hyped it up a bit.
De La Soul - Unfortunately I missed a majority of their performance trying to grab something to eat. I did catch it from "Oooh" and the classic "Buddy" by the Native Tongues, and a couple of others.
Raekwon & Ghostface Killah - Two of my favorite mc's in and outside of the Wu graced the stage at Rock The Bells to perform tracks from the classic Only Built For Cuban Linx, Supreme Clientele, 36 Chambers, and other albums from the Wu-Tang catalog. The highlight of the performance was "Triumph". Raekwon also announced that Only Built For Cuban Linx 2 will be out in February of 2009.
Method Man & Redman - Meth & Red had the crowd hyped from start to finish. The set started with Redman on a solo tip with Method Man making a late and exciting entrance. The set ended with "Da Rockwilder" and Meth & Red doing stage dives. They also announced they will be dropping the sequel to the Blackout album this year!
Surprise Guests - The surprise guest turned out to be the Black Eyed Peas minus Fergie. They were the only performers to use a live band to supply the music.
The Pharcyde - The Pharcyde had a nice set reuniting all four members. The Pharcyde started their performance off with "Runnin" and ended it on a nostalgic note with "Passin' Me By"
Mos Def - Mos Def put on a great show performing joints off Black on Both Sides, and True Magic.
Nas - Hands down the highlight of the show. Nas started off doing joints from his current album Untitled, and then took the crowd down memory lane through Nas' discography. From Illmatic to Stillmatic, to God's Son, Nas performed numerous tracks with high energy and charisma. Nas also said Fuck Bill O'Rielly and Fuck Fox News.
A Tribe Called Quest- The second best performance of Rock The Bells. The set started with Q-Tip performing tracks off his upcoming album and the slept-on Amplified album. He also had Mos Def with him to hype up the crowd. Later on, the rest of the members of A Tribe Called Quest to perform hits such as "Bonita Applebum", "Can I Kick It", "Electric Relaxation", "Award Tour", and many others.
Second stage:
The second stage had other acts such as The Cool Kids, Kidz in The Hall, The Pack, Tyga, MF Doom and others. The only two that I got a chance to see were Tyga and The Pack. I wish I could've seen the performance of an supposed imposter MF Doom that wrapped up the second stage, which led to angry fans throwing things and booing the impostor. Check the video below:

I heard a rumor that MF Doom is preparing a new album titled DOOMposter where the theme of the album is him addressing an MF Doom impostor who's been posing as MF Doom at shows like the video shown above. Hopefully he can redeem himself with that idea.