The sixth annual “Back to the City” Hip Hop Festival took place on Freedom Day (April 27) at Ritual Stores – corner Bree Street and Henry Nxumalo, Newtown, Johannesburg. It started from the morning, featuring live music, break-dancing, skateboarding, street soccer, street culture like fashion, graffitti, gaming and featured over 30 MC’s, DJ’s, Beatbox and competitions.

This event,“BACK TO THE CITY” bringing life and color to the city” was held on Freedom Day, to celebrate street and youth culture. The purpose of this event is to bring all the hip-hop heads, hippies, fashionistas, artsy kids back to the city. The festival on its 5th year, attracted 15 000 kids last year and things only get better annually. Ritual Stores hosted fine arts, digital arts and fabric exhibition which also featured a collective of artists from various backgrounds exposing the wealth of talent that exists amongst our communities. Different art pieces were up for sale at the stall space were various brands displayed and sold their merchandise.

Some of the artists that performed live on the stage were Tuks, Proverb, AKA, Amu, Kwester, Mr Selwyn, Driemanskaap (CT) just to name a few, and various dance crews were the likes of Relapse, Freeze Frame, Apocalypse, and the deejays who entertained the crowd, it was C-live, PS Squared, Ready D, Switch and Vigi, Dj Ricman and Nacheit from Spain.