This year sees Boomtown’s most energetic district Barrio Loco, pushing musical boundaries even further with its stellar line-up that includes hip hop, garage and grime giants from all corners of the world. Just one of Boomtown’s 12 themed districts, the reverberating sounds, rhythms and lyrics provide the perfect balance to the festival’s varied headline bill that includes Ms. Lauryn Hill, Prophets of Rage, The Streets, Chronixx, Groove Armada and Salt-N-Pepa.
Bringing a brand new collaboration to Boomtown’s vibrant party capital Barrio Loco, BBC Radio 1Xtra will be opening up Poco Loco, the districts’ main stage, on Thursday with a full day takeover showcasing some of the radio station’s top DJs and discovered talents. The 1Xtra Thursday Takeover will include; lady of the moment Tiffany Calver, after taking over the prestigious slot on Radio 1 and 1Xtra as the new host of the 1Xtra Rap Show as well as supporting Drake on his UK and European tour; trailblazer and tastemaker of a generation Jamz Supernova. Joining the 1Xtra DJs throughout the day, the live acts will include; infectious dancehall of Alicai Harley, supreme talent and the dazzling soul voice of Joel Culpepper plus the heady blend of hip hop and jazz, mixed up with a few nods to London grime from Che Lingo. This is all set to be an incredible opening to what will be a weekend filled with the very best in UK and world wide hip-hop, grime, garage, bass and neo soul…
Moving on to Friday, off the back of a worldwide tour, Boomtown legend Eva Lazarus, will kick things off and as well as making a repeat appearance as part of a collaboration with UK producer Swindle in his fusion of jazz and grime later in the evening. The masters of tongue-twisting, multisyllabic, complex rhymes Blackalicious will also treat crowds with their own brand of West Coast hip-hop. Queen of UK hip hop Little Simz makes a return to the festival after her electrifying guest appearance on the ‘Lion’s Den’ with Gorillaz last year alongside garage and bassline producer and selector Flava D, the raw poetry of High Focus’ Ocean Wisdom, Jus Now with their Trinidadian soca rhythms mixed with UK underground return and Sir Spyro’s grime and freestyle. Sunday sees the much anticipated High Focus Takeoverfeaturing self-styled ‘Brexit Bandit’ and proclaimed rising star slowthai who makes an exciting special guest appearance with his unique, experimental grime / punk stylings, plus the likes of Four Owls, Dirty Dike and Jam Baxter.
Bringing dance, garage and bassline to Barrio Loco, ‘24 Hour Garage Girls’ is back featuring some heavyweights of the scene that include one half of the legendary production/remixing team, Tuff Jam, DJ / producer and all round pioneer of the British UK garage scene Matt Jam Lamont; dancehall champion Danny Rankin AKA DJ Decoy (Kurupt FM), and international DJ/Producer SHOSH, who is head honcho at 24hr Garage Girls and whose debut EP ‘Take On You’ hit no.1 in UKG charts. Plus singular soundsmith Freddie Martin, bright new up and comer in both UK Garage and Bassline Sammy Virji, Mind of a Dragon the latest edition to Conducta’s fresh new label, Kiwi Rekords and an amazing producer fronting new UK Garage and favourite newcomer with guest mixes for DJ Mag & Get Darker Nadine who together will set the tone to the stage.
All new venue Pirate Studio Presents will be making its debut appearance with a host of grassroots DJs with the full line-up to be announced soon. Boomtown stalwart Kaotik Kartel will also be returning, with the likes of Skitz, Vinyl Junkie, Stivs & Jim Bitch and Kreed adding to the mix and long term performance troupe, Bassline Circus will add the final ingredient to the melting pot that brings this district to life, with their boundless energy, eclectic mix of circus performance, breathtaking parkour, streetdance and mind-blowing breakdancing.