Hip-hop has a bigger presence at Riot Fest this year than ever before—hugely influential acts such as De La Soul, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, and Cypress Hill are sure to steal some of the spotlight from the lineup’s army of guitar heroes. But some of the best rap artists at the festival are less well-known. If you want to see the shape of hip-hop to come, start with these five sets.
The obvious draw with Ground Up are the resplendent, animated instrumentals of producer Bijan Houshmadinajad, but the rappers in this Philadelphia hip-hop group, Alexander Azar and Malcolm McDowell, set each other up for devastating punch lines like the undefeated world champions of two-man beach volleyball. The MCs could use help with their lyrics—they rarely get beyond self-congratulatory boasts—but when Azar and McDowell lock in with a nasty beat, their shortcomings as writers cease to matter. The flows on their self-released, self-titled 2014 album draw you in like a tractor beam.
