BASS Festival set for Birmingham

BASS festival returns to the second city for its 11th year next month, with a theme dedicated to Hip Hop 360.

Featuring legendary artists past and present who have shaped the sound of a generation, Hip Hop 360 celebrates every aspect of street level black music culture.

Stars including DJ Jazzy Jeff, Rodney P, Slick Rick, Robert Glasper, Diamond D, Large Professor, DJ Bobbito & Stretch Armstrong, DJ Semtex and Ty will perform on stages throughout the city over the two-week festival period for adoring fans.

BASS Festival runs from November 10 to 28 with tickets available from http://bass2016.co.uk/ and priced from free to £25.

BASS Festival is the brainchild of Punch Records, the UK's leading music development agency, and is now based in Birmingham with an impressive 15-year history in total of delivering ground-breaking public programmes, events and special one-off shows.

It has gone all out for 2016, booking legendary artists to celebrate the Hip Hop 360 theme. Hip Hop pioneer and multi-award-winning producer and DJ Jazzy Jeff will be showing off his flawless turntable skills and musical versatility, while Slick Rick – arguably one of the most successful British-American rappers in history – will be bring his inimitable flows to the Birmingham crowds.

Riding high off the success of his critically acclaimed book Hip Hop Raised Me, DJ Semtex will be hosting a live Q&A with UK Hip Hop stalwarts Rodney P and Ty also flying the flag high for the UK scene.

US Hip Hop Radio legends DJ Bobbito and Stretch Armstrong will be premiering their film biopic 'Stretch And Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives', directed by Bobbito himself, plus many more special events happening over the course of the two weeks.

Punch's CEO Ammo Talwar said: "Hip hop is a beautifully complex culture of music and language, art and fashion which is in every way the voice of youth and accessible to ordinary people. Hip hop 360 will allow people to explore this culture from every angle."

BASS Festival is the UK's only Black Arts commissioning Festival.

The Hip Hop 360 theme is celebrating the full spectrum of hip hop culture – from music to graffiti, debate to the global impact of the genre.

BASS 16 was launched back in July by US music legend KRS-One, who flew to Birmingham for a performance and unique Q&A session, which can be seen by searching for PunchRecordsOnline on YouTube.