From 2004 to 2012, there was a traveling hip hop festival called Rock the Bells that shuttered after the planned 2013 editions were cancelled. The fest was named after the classic song by LL Cool J, who won a lawsuit over the festival's name in 2019, one year after launching his Rock the Bells lifestyle brand and SiriusXM station. Now, LL has announced his own Rock the Bells Festival, which goes down in his Queens hometown on August 6 at Forest Hills Stadium.
The lineup includes LL Cool J himself (with DJ Z-Trip), plus Ice Cube, Jadakiss, Lil Kim, Rick Ross, Fat Joe & Remy Ma, The Diplomats, N.O.R.E., Scarface (celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Fix), Digable Planets, and Trina, plus music by DJ Mister Cee & DJ Scratch and your host Roxanne Shanté, and there's more TBA.