Lowell Hip-Hop Festival

2026 Festival

The Lineup

Legends of the genre alongside the artists carrying Lowell and the 978 right now.

Headliners

Kick-off Concert · Saturday, October 10 · Taffeta Music Hall

90s Hip-Hop Legends

Jungle Brothers

Mike Gee and Afrika Baby Bam pioneered the fusion of jazz, house, and hip-hop, and their 1988 debut Straight Out the Jungle is an all-time classic. The JBeez co-founded the Native Tongues, the collective that includes De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Queen Latifah and Black Sheep. Nearly forty years in, they still tour on the strength of a live show built on the culture's actual roots, which is exactly why they open a festival built around the four elements for every generation.

Local 978 Legend

Termanology

Termanology is a rapper and producer from Lawrence whose 2008 album Politics as Usual featured production from DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Large Professor and the Alchemist, and he's followed it up with collaborative albums alongside Paul Wall, Statik Selektah, Myster DL, and more. He now has more than 60 projects out and counting. He currently resides in Lowell and regularly records at Lowell's own Wonka Sound. He is the proof the 978 has been and is continuing to produce world-class MCs.

Get Kick-off Concert Tickets

Local Artists

Kick-off Concert · Saturday, October 10 · Taffeta Music Hall

Collective

Mill City Madness

A Lowell scream-rap and scenecore collective built around the voices of Stardust World, Rottenegg, and Hazel Adeline. Their queer-friendly, defiant live shows and monthly themed events have made them a fixture of the Greater Lowell and Boston rap and rave scenes — proof the culture is still growing new branches in this city.

MC

Poppy Pyonn

A Burmese rapper and Berklee student with close to 200,000 followers on TikTok, releasing singles steadily since 2020 and rhyming in the city that has been a landing place for Southeast Asian families for forty years. Lowell already knows that blend on the mic. Poppy is what it sounds like now.

MC / Vocalist

Malissa Lach

A Lowell MC, poet and vocalist who moves between stages across genres and audiences, from the Southeast Asian Water Festival to a featured poet slot at Lowell Celebrates Kerouac.

MC

CabbHoppa1

A muralist and hip-hop culture advocate who works from a deep knowledge of where the culture came from, connecting art to the communities it lives in. He's also leading Hip-Hop 101 at The Hive on the 17th.

MC

Chi Tashi

Fish Scale Baby put Chi Tashi at the front of Lowell's current wave, a hip-hop artist with the range to sing the hook and then bury you on the verse.

MC

SoloArtist

A Lowell native building a catalog on his own terms and a steady presence in the local scene, the kind of independent grind this festival was built to put in front of a bigger room.

MC

Persona the Tyrant

A Lowell local and underground MC who has been at it since 2004, building a sound on raw lyricism and horror-inspired darkness that answers to the 978 and nothing else.

MC

Ape the Grim

A New Hampshire b-boy, graffiti writer, battler and MC with records featuring Kool Keith, Mr. Lif, Reks, Termanology, and many more. He is a one-man argument for the four-element framing this festival is built on.

Saturday, October 17 · 8:00 PM · Warp & Weft

Fee & The Evolutionists

Live Band

Fee & The Evolutionists

A live soul and hip-hop band fronted by Fee, an MC with a golden-era flow, and Ruby Shabazz, whose vocals come straight out of classic R&B, backed by some of the most accomplished musicians in New England. Fee was part of the classic Lowell hip-hop group X-Caliber and he co-wrote and rapped on "One Hit to the Body" with D-Tension, the song Micky Ward walked out to for the first Gatti fight.

Sunday, October 18 · 1:00 PM · Tescobar Performance Center

Dance Jam Finale

Host

Elmstreet

Breaking Judges

Baldi · RTA · Kellz

Breaking DJ

DJ KingX

Hip-Hop Battle Judges

Keda · McKersin · DOA

Hip-Hop DJ

DJ Trends

Performances

Mill Advised · More TBA