SA’s biggest hip-hop festival celebrates ten years
NEWTOWN – Annual hip-hop festival Back to the City saw thousands of music lovers flock to Mary Fitzgerald Square to listen to old, new and upcoming artists.
The Back to the City festival celebrated its 10th anniversary in Newtown Mary Fitzgerald Square and hosted various hip-hop artists on Freedom Day.
The festival that gives a platform to new hip-hop artists saw thousands of fans flock to Newtown to catch a glimpse of their favourite performer on 27 April. The festival attracted big names such as HHP, Reason, Kwesta, Proverb, Chad Da Don, Pro, Fifi Cooper and even international acts such as Elzhi from Chicago and Skyzoo from New York. Nasty C made a surprise performance on the evening, to the delight of the crowd.
@ELZHI @BacktothecitySA @NewsNMT Straight outta Chicago into Newton SA @cosmio pic.twitter.com/okZuE1uXtY
— Gaahele M (@Treaka) April 27, 2016
With 80 artists performing, there were some newer faces on the scene including Life of the Party, Priddyy Ugly, Nadia Nakai, and Miss Nthabi. Festival goers enjoyed displays of various forms of hip-hop such as deejays, break dancing, beat boxing, graffiti, skateboarding and also street fashion pop-up stores.
Back to the City 🇿🇦🏆#Thebookofchad 📷@Ephraim_Doa https://t.co/ujuzf2lPSo pic.twitter.com/oeULt6Q8Wq
— #DOMINOS (@ChadDaDon) April 28, 2016
Founder of the festival Osmic Menoe said that the festival was not just offering artists a platform to showcase their talent but also as a way to propel the genre forward.”When I started the festival I ran it out of my own pocket but as the festival grew it attracted sponsors and with 3 500 people at the first event I saw the festival becoming much bigger and hence 10 years later we are still growing bigger and better,” Menoe said.
@Nasty_CSA @NewsNMT @BacktothecitySA surprize performer Nasty C hits da stage. Crowd goes mad pic.twitter.com/49JErFFqS9
— Gaahele M (@Treaka) April 27, 2016
Life of the Party member Justin Ross said that he enjoyed hearing other performing artists and made a special mention of Priddy Ugly. “Hip-hop music is not dead, it is more alive than it has ever been and I am glad that I am here to witness it,” Ross said.
Ricardo Molooi known as Priddy Ugly said that festivals such as Back to the City were important to keep the movement of hip-hop going and growing.
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