The 2013 Rock The Bells private press conference was based on three key things: One – it will be Guerilla Union‘s ten year anniversary being celebrated this September; Two – It will also be Wu-Tang Clan‘s 20 year anniversary celebrating the release of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers); and Three – celebrating the life of the late Eric ‘Eazy-E’ Wright & Russell ‘Ol’ Dirty Bastard’ Jones by bringing them back to life through hologram performances – with the standard set only approved by Tomica Wright & Cherry Jones – wife of the late Eazy-E, and mother Ol’ Dirty Bastard, who were both present at the conference.

Everything was underway once MC Supernatural started freestyling the artists’ names who will be performing at this year’s festival. One person’s name stood out the most was Jhene Aiko, who’s an R&B artist that I (in my humble opinion) didn’t expect to see on the lineup (considering how the lineup usually is set throughout the years). But, I think GU is pushing the boundaries with this one, just like how they did last year with DJ Lance Rock, who’s popularity rose high with Nickelodeon‘s Yo Gabba Gabba! that influenced Chang enough to put him on the bill. Lecrae, who is a Christian hiphop artist, is set to perform at this year’s festival as well. What’s also an important key thing to take note of is the fact that majority of these artists that are set to perform have either released music this year already (like, Talib Kweli‘s Prisoner Of Consciousness & Kid Cudi‘s Indicud, for example), or will be releasing music this year (like Tech N9ne‘s Something Else and Wu-Tang Clan’s A Better Tomorrow).

Once the conference was over, Tech N9ne takes the stage and gives an amazing performance. He gives off a tremendous amount of energy through his showmanship, which I’m sure won a lot of fans (including myself) over. Then Wu-Tang’s infamous storyteller Masta Killa popped up on stage and freestyled a few lines, and brought MC Supernatural out for a duet session for the audience, with Supernatural taking a variety of items (mostly hats) and rapping about them. After that ended, there was a DJ who took the intermission and spun some tunes for the crowd who was let in for the party right up until it was time for Bone Thugs-N-Harmony to light up the stage.

The rap quintet got on stage and took the time to honor the dead by starting off with their Notorious B.I.G. duet, Notorious Thugs, and then fired off the West Coast sounding of their 2PAC feature, Thug Luv. It has been a long road for these guys to finally get back together, and to see them do it for another year again makes the excitement for the fans that much sweeter!

Expect this anniversary’s party to be huge and with loads of excitement, considering they’re making it two days! Next month, be alert as they will be announcing the next round of artists who will be performing this year!

Check out the pictures of our coverage above!