festival

Kes Shares New Single, “Honey Comb”

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Kes has shared a new single titled, “Honey Comb,” featuring Jamaica’s Busy Signal and Haiti’s Michaël Brun. The dancehall-inspired track premiered on BBC1Xtra with Seani B on Thursday night. The release of the song comes as Busy Signal and Michaël Brun prepare to join Kes at IzWE Festival. They’ll be performing on Tuesday, February 14th at Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba, Trinidad.

“Honey Comb” is produced by Brun, whom Kes previously worked with for 2022’s “Liki Tiki.” It arrives ahead of the group’s upcoming LP, Man With No Door. The project is releasing later this year on Ineffable Records.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JULY 01: Kees Dieffenthaller (R) of KES the Band performs onstage during the 2022 Essence Festival of Culture at the Louisiana Superdome on July 1, 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Essence)

Other performers set to appear at IzWE Festival include Shaggy, Nailah Blackman, Olatunji, Iwer George, Erphaan Alves, Mical Teja, Viking Ding Dong, Rikki Jai, and Ravi B, among others. Shaggy recently collaborated with Kes on the track, “Mood,” which they released earlier this year. In addition to that collaboration, Kes has released numerous other singles as of late, including “Feelin It,” with Patrice Roberts, “Mental Day,” “Jub Jub” and “Fuh Spite.”

“For the concert, I tried my very best to expand the sound beyond the soca,” said Kes frontman Kees Dieffenthaller. He is also known individually as Kes. “I want to carry people through a bit of the journey from where we came.”

Kes first launched the IzWE festival back in 2021. They billed the event as a series of five, socially-distanced concerts, due to COVID-19, during what would have been Carnival Week of that year. In the two years since, they have brought IzWE to New York City and Toronto, where thousands of fans came out to see them. Since officially forming in 2005, Kes have become one of Trinidad & Tobago’s most popular and celebrated musical acts. They’ve collaborated with Snoop Dogg, Wizkid, and Major Lazer, as well as other iconic artists. Check out Kes’ latest single, “Honey Comb,” featuring Busy Signal and Michaël Brun below.

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Travis Scott, Playboi Carti, & 50 Cent To Perform At Wireless Festival

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Travis Scott, Playboi Carti, 50 Cent, and more will be performing at this year’s Wireless Festival in London. The festival announced the lineup for its 2023 event on Wednesday.

Other artists who grace the lineup include Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Durk, Ice Spice, Metro Boomin, Joey Bada$$, GloRilla, Latto, Bryson Tiller, and many more.

HOUSTON, TEXAS – NOVEMBER 05: Travis Scott performs during 2021 Astroworld Festival at NRG Park on November 05, 2021 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Erika Goldring/WireImage)

It will be Playboi Carti’s second year in a row playing at Wireless. In 2022, he went viral for falling off the stage during his set. Travis Scott most recently performed at Primavera Sound in Santiago, Chile back in November. 50 Cent toured across Europe just last summer. He performed in London at OVO Arena Wembley.

Tickets will be going on sale at 10:00 AM, GMT this Friday. Although presale is available as of Wednesday morning. The event will go down at London’s Finsbury Park between Friday, July 7 and Sunday, July 9. Fans can expect even more noteworthy names to be added to the lineup in the months to come. In previous years, headliners have included A$AP Rocky, SZA, Nicki Minaj, Doja Cat, Cardi B, and more.

On Friday, Carti will headline with Uzi, Metro Boomin, Latto, Ice Spice, and more performing before him.

For Saturday, Scott will be handling headlining duties. Bryson Tiller, Joey Bada$$, and others will all open.

Lastly, on Sunday, D-Block Europe will cap off a night featuring Lil Durk, Popcaan, Lil Tjay, and more.

It’s unclear where 50 Cent will fit into the schedule, as he’s listed as a “special guest” for now.

Check out the lineup for Wireless Festival below and be on the lookout for more artists to be added.

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Chance The Rapper & Vic Mensa‘s Black Star Line Festival Reaches 50k Attendees

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Chance The Rapper and Vic Mensa‘s Black Star Line Festival drew a crowd of 50,000 in Ghana over the weekend. T-Pain, Erykah Badu, Jeremih, Tobe Nwigwe, and Talib Kweli were among the performers.

Mensa, whose father is from Ghana, referred to the festival appearance as a homecoming.

“I had a dream about connecting the African people of the globe – to unify us as one people,” Mensa said on stage.

GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN- AUGUST 12: Chance The Rapper performs at Way Out West Festival in Slottskogen on
August 12, 2022 in Gothenburg, Sweden. (Photo by Rune Hellestad- Corbis/ Corbis via Getty Images)

On stage, Mensa and Chance also performed their classic track, “Cocoa Butter Kisses,” together, among other hits. Prior to the festival, the two spent a week in Ghana with eight students from Chicago.

“When Vic and I started our careers and started touring, we did shows all over the US,” Chance said at the time. “Eventually we started touring in Europe. We did shows in Asia, South America, Central America, but we never had a chance to play our music for the people who support us the most.”

The festival also featured performances from several local artists, including Sarkodie, Manifest, and The Asakaa Boys.

“Founded in 1919, and operated by Black people, the [Black Star Line] would link America, the Caribbean and Africa, to global shipping and tourism opportunities,” a press release previously explained. “The Black Star Line was a symbol of pride, not only for Africans, but also for Black people in all ports of call. After nearly 40 years, the Ghanian government launched their fleet with the same name, in homage to Garvey, and even added a black star to the country’s new flag.”

Check out clips from Chance and Mensa‘s inaugural music festival below.

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The Best and Worst Parts of Osheaga 2022

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Image via Getty/Mark Horton
  • Image via Getty/Mark Horton

    Dua Lipa gave the best performance

  • Slowthai’s fashion choice hit a sour note

  • Image via Pat Beaudry

    Burna Boy turned up the energy

  • Image via Susan Moss

    Fans took the W