Photo by IMAGEAGENCY.com
The festival- season has entered the next round and NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION will be part of one of the most classic European Hip Hop Festivals, the 17th SPLASH! FESTIVAL is ready to start. As the last 5 years it will take place on the ‘Ferropolis Peninsula’ near Gräfenhainchen. The ‘City of iron’ will host numerous artists of the Hip Hop Culture and it would seems that it is more famous than ever. Therefore it is not surprising that the tickets were sold out, for the 3rd time in a row – but this time it looks like the organizers achieved a new success. Already after three months all festival tickets were out of stock.
This has probably to do with this years line up. Round about thirty international and twice as much German acts are represented. SPLASH! boasts with commercial headliners like OUTKAST, WIZ KHALIFA and M.I.A. Whereas usual suspected German SPLASH! legends like SAMY DELUXE, MATERIA and CASPER, who always showed up in the preceding seven years, will not be part of the Festival . In return Berlin’s legendary rap crew K.I.Z. is going to be back on the SPLASH! stage. Even if the event is dated from July 11 to 13, the doors will be opened as alsways at 7:30 pm on Thursday (10th) to warm up the crowd. Local acts like CREDIBIL and CELO & ABDI from Frankfurt, as well as eRRdeKafrom Augsburg and the GENETIKK-DJ-Team will give a foretaste of what can be expected the following days.
The festival area consists of the Main Stage, two smaller stages (one at the beach) and a dance floor. Newest innovation at the festival is the so-called ‘Creative Camp’. Also situated directly on the festival area, the camp will be open for all graffiti and street artists in order to create visions, plan their execution and finally realize them in the camp or all around the festival area. This creative improvement should serve to beautify the whole place. The ‘Biergarten’, located at the camping site, could be very interesting for fresh artists who want to make their presence known by performing on this stage. On Friday all stages will be opened. The smaller stages will host German Old School acts like FÜNF STERNE DELUXE and AFROB. The Main Stage offers modern US Hip Hop. CHANCE THE RAPPER will have a one hour show and is followed by EARL SWEATSHIRT, a famour member of the Los Angeles-based hip hop collective ODD FUTURE.
When M.I.A will enter the Snipes Vulcano Main Stage at 10.p.m. it’s going to be time to freak out. The Desperados Aruba Stage will probably shine with HUDSON MOHAWKE who is going to bring joy with his excellent beat compositions. For all lovers in quest of personal tips : Earlier in the day the same stage (as well as on Saturday The Relentless Samoa Stage) will host Loop Sessions by TRIBES OF JIZU with several interesting artits, at any rate a spectacle to view! The second day will be more commercial, because three commercially very succesfull German acts will hit up the stage. Though, of course, there will be much more to explore on the smaller stages. Supporters of ‘real’ hip hop will get their money’s worth,too.
Among well known artists there are a lot of juicy newcommers like VIC MENSA and the beatmaker ONRA from Paris. Big Boi already made it to the SPLASH! FESTIVAL in 2011, when he spontaneously replaced DE LA SOUL, who couldn’t perform because of illness. This time the organizers proudly presents OUTKAST in complete for the first time in years and therefore one of this years highlight oft the German Hip Hop Festival. Sunday’s Headliner is going to be WIZ KHALIFA, who already performed 2012. Because of the huge interest in the Football World Cup, the final as well as the game for 3rd place, will be shown live at the festival area. Weather Germany will be knocked out get world champion or at least the 3rd place, the performances will hopefully provide evidence that music can make every place a better one.
Article by Lisa Bonifer and Dennis Kailing
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