Rock the Bells Begins With Pharcyde Reunion, Passionate Nas Set

Last year's annual hip-hop spectacle Rock the Bells reunited the estranged members of Rage Against the Machine. This time, it was the Pharcyde's turn to kiss and make up. Rock the Bells 2008, which launched its six-week international tour July 19th at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in suburban Chicago, featured the first live performance in over 11 years by all four founding members of the long-fractured L.A. alt-rap crew.

Sparked by their eponymous theme song "Pharcyde," with its raucous roll-call of MCs "Imani, Bootie Brown, Fatlip and Slimkid Tre," the group's jubilant, jazz-inflected set ramped up the mercury on an already-sultry summer Saturday — especially their loose-knit, casually raunchy party standards "Ya Mama" and "Oh Shit."

A Tribe Called Quest closed the nearly 12-hour day with a muscular serving of their more cerebral fare, abetted by a live band and vibrant op-art video flourishes. The Queens-bred innovators were preceded by a politically charged Nas. The durable New York MC called out a number of people and entities on his hit list, including Fox News in his seething track "Sly Fox." "Watch what you watchin', Fox keeps feeding us toxins," Nas spat in warning. "But watch what you say — Big Brother is watchin'."

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Song Stories

“Youth Knows No Pain”

Lykke Li | 2011

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”

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