JMBLYA

By Conner Yarbrough
Blog Content Contributor

It’s that time of year again! Music festivals left and right are announcing their lineups and starting general ticket sales.

No newbie to the game is Texas’s own travelling hip-hop fest, JMBLYA! The festival returns in early May and, for the first time since its inception, will be returning home to Houston to close out its 2018 run.

JMBLYA 1 — Check out the full line up and festival dates on the official JMBLYA 2018 poster! *Photo courtesy of JMBLYA.*

In past years, the festival has featured Grammy-nominated headliners like Chance the Rapper and Kendrick Lamar and, according to this year’s lineup, it looks like they’re sticking with that trend. Headliners this year include J. Cole, Migos, Cardi B and Kevin Gates alongside Texas legends Bun B, Trae tha Truth, and DJ Mr. Rogers.

While J. Cole hasn’t had any official releases in over a year, this surprise headlining gig could be a clue that the follow up to his 2016 album “4 Your Eyez Only” is closer than we think. And, with JMBLYA scheduled ahead of the few other festivals he’s a part of, attendees could be the first to hear any new music that he’s got up his sleeve.

Coming off of her record-breaking, quadruple-platinum Billboard debut, Bodak Yellow, Cardi B is expected to have a full album dropping sometime this year. As she stacks up accolades for what some are calling the “Song of the Year” for 2017, she continues to climb to the top of the charts with her features (at one point she had five tracks in the Billboard Top 10 at the same time). One of these features, Motorsport, is a track by coheadliner Migos, whose member, Offset, is also engaged to the rising female emcee. It would be no surprise if the two linked up at JMBLYA to perform the hit live.

Kevin Gates is sure to put on a great performance after an almost year-and-a-half hiatus from live shows following his arrest in the fall of 2016. Since then, he’s released his latest full-length album, “By Any Means 2,” and is bound to play his iconic track, 2 Phones.

This year the festival is said to have even more free water stations than ever before, double the number of food vendors than last year, huge bars (for those of you of age) and huge non-alcoholic bars (for those of you that aren’t).

As is tradition, JMBLYA has partnered with several Texas charities and non-profits to support victims of Hurricane Harvey and promote community service, music education, and economic equality for underprivileged children and their families.

The specific organizations this year are:

Check out the festivals poster to see when the festival will be closest to you and be on the lookout for the daily performance schedule single-day tickets, and community service projects that could help you get tickets (which are on sale NOW)!

Featured image courtesy of JMBLYA.