LL COOL J's F.O.R.C.E. Tour kicked off on Hip-Hop's birthday (Aug. 11), sweeping through Baltimore, Cleveland, and Chicago.
The perfect way to celebrate Hip-Hop's 50th anniversary, fans were able to witness the GOAT live on stage with various other living legends throughout his first three stops, including The Roots, DJ Jazzy Jeff and DJ Z-Trip, along with MC Lyte, Rakim, Common, Redman and Method Man, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Jadakiss, MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, and Doug E. Fresh. Each city featured a different group of artists, all on one mission — to celebrate Hip-Hop and showcase its diversity and magnificence.
Doug E. Fresh said he was happy to work with "my brother LL COOL J and so many other great, great artists on this tour."
"It's gonna be phenomenal," he said. "Y'all gotta come out and see it."
Later, Doug E. Fresh broke down why beatboxing as the fifth element of Hip-Hop is so important to recognize. Specifically, he talks about the idea that beatboxing is the the fifth element, not knowledge.
"I think it's so important because when you look at Hip-Hop, you got the DJ, the MC — master of ceremony, which is different than a rapper — you got graffiti artists, you got the break dancer, and you got the fifth element, which is beatboxing," he said. "The reason why it's the fifth element is all five things are dealing with artistic expression. A lot of people think it's the sixth, but it's not, because knowledge is infinite. But the creation is within these five elements."
Doug E. Fresh's breakdown encompassed a lot of what the F.O.R.C.E. tour is about — showcasing the very best of Hip-Hop. To that end, show played like one live set, or "live mixtape" as LL previously explained. In addition, like this weekend, all of the stops on the tour will be backed by the legendary The Roots crew as well as DJ Jazzy Jeff and DJ Z-Trip.
The tour will roll through arenas across the United States and Canada, before wrapping on November 19th in Boston, MA, at TD Garden. Tickets are available now at rockthebells.com/forcelive. Check out some of the dopest moments below.
