I’ll be honest: I told myself I wouldn’t come back to Hot 97’s 2016 installment of their annual SummerJam Festival after experiencing the madness that was 2015 (which, among other things, included a pepper spray-filled riot), but after seeing the first lineup for the showcase I may have to renege on that declaration.
For a few years not, the radio station has split their annual concert into two halves, with one being an mid-day/early-evening festival spotlighting some of what they deem the “hottest (no pun intended) rising acts today.” It’s a bit ironic, considering that some of them are by then established stars and — in many cases — the concert that takes place in the parking lot of New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium is arguably better than the actual SummerJam itself. I couldn’t really tell you anything about SummerJam outside of Fabolous’ set that was more entertaining to watch than Travi$ Scott almost incite a riot during his Festival performance.
The 2016 equivalent is no different, and it could be argued that once again the Festival could be better than the main event. While said main event has not been announced yet (that will happen April 8th), they have let loose the lineup for the Festival Stage, which will take place June 5th: Chance the Rapper, Tory Lanez, Curren$y, Desiigner, Post Malone, Justine Skye, Dave East, Dougie F and Rotimi.
If you said “I’d only go to see Chance and Spitta,” then you’d be correct on both accounts,” but I’m giving Hot 97 a chance to announce the Main Stage lineup as well.
