Hip Hop Music Festivals

From early beginnings on the streets of The Bronx to becoming the most popular genre of music in the USA, and one of the biggest worldwide, hip hop has come a long way in 40 years.

While early pioneers developed a deep-rooted culture based around the four elements of hip hop – rapping, DJing, breakdancing and graffiti – the music has since spread out from African-American communities in cities across the States to become a global musical phenomenon.

90s rap icons like Tupac, Biggie Smalls, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and OutKast have gone down in music history, while the likes of Jay-Z and Kanye West have taken the genre to the biggest stages imaginable; both acts headlining the legendary Glastonbury Festival and Coachella Festival this century.

Add to that the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Eminem, Nicki Minaj and Travis Scott, and you’ll quickly lose count of the number of festival headline sets all across the globe.

And that’s not just hip hop festivals either – think Wireless Festival in London and Germany, Switzerland's Openair Frauenfeld, Fresh Island in Croatia. In North America, Kaaboo del Mar plays host to artists like Snoop Dogg, Wu-Tang Clan and Post Malone. These days, you’re just as likely to see a rapper topping the bill at the world’s biggest multi-genre festivals as you are a rock band or pop megastar.

So regardless of whether you’re a hip hop purist who champions boom-bap, jazz rap and lyrical complexity, or a fan of modern styles like trap, drill and Soundcloud rap, there are countless hip hop festivals and other events that have you covered.