Rakim, De la Soul, Blackalicious headline Paid Dues fest

Published at 10:51 AM on April 15, 2008

By Alexander Brown

Rakim, De la Soul, Blackalicious headline Paid Dues fest

Radio doesn’t play their music. Cable won’t show their videos. Chain stores don’t push their albums. It’s a hard life for alternative hip-hop acts; that is, until summer festival time hits, and then they are in high demand. To exemplify the fact is the third annual Paid Dues Festival Series, which expands to several cities across the U.S. this summer.

This year the festival brings along legends such as Rakim and De la Soul for select dates along with other luminaries such as Sage Francis, Blackalicious and the Hieroglyphics. The festival aims to publicize hip-hop artists normally ignored by the mainstream media and the general public. Tickets for the select dates go on sale this Saturday (April 19).

Paid Dues dates:

June
4 - New York, N.Y. @ Nokia Theatre
7 - Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. @ Club Cinema
13 - Denver, Colo. @ Fillmore Auditorium
14 - Berkley, Calif. @ Berkley Community Theatre