Last year, up-and-coming group Ho99o9 (pronounced Horror) toured with industrial group 3Teeth. Listening to Ho99o9 is like listening to a mixtape – one minute it's pure old school hip hop, one minute it's metal and one minute it's Bad Brains worship. Listening to the music, you might ask, who is this for? But when I saw it live, I realized a few things: 1) I'm old. 2) It's for the kids.
Kids today don't discriminate by genre. They have access to every song ever recorded and make use of that. They listen to everything. Which is why I am not surprised that today Blink 182 and Lil Wayne announced they are touring together.
Of course, neither of those acts are metal, but this is something metal can very much learn from. Metal has a problem in that the median age of our audience is getting older and older by the day. Metal isn't creating new fans, and pop culture is not recognizing metal. But you know who is recognizing metal? Hip hop musicians.
Corey Taylor recently collaborated with hip hop star Kid Bookie on a song. Bookie called Slipknot a major influence on him. Multi-platinum rapper Lil Uzi Vert has shown up at The Faceless gigs and once had a $220,000 chain of Marilyn Manson custom made. The crossover is real! Of course, in the 90s, the crossovers were happening all the time – with Anthrax and Public Enemy touring, Korn's Family Values tour including the likes of Ice Cube and more. But that was 20 years ago!
Music fans today, especially young ones, truly do listen to everything. It's a world of singles, and killer songs. PEople can mostly identify as hip hop heads, but still get down with Metallcia's "Battery" or that fun Motorhead song they once heard in a Tony Hawk game.
And clearly, the people behind Blink-182 and Lil Wayne agree, which is why they are cashing in on this with the announcement of a big nationwide tour this summer. This is big business for both acts. I'm a little out of touch with the mainstream, but it seems both Blink and Lil Wayne have seen their most popular days behind them, but still have a huge audience. I imagine they are going to capitalize on all the press here, and maybe even each pick up some new fans. I'm curious who shows up to this thing.
Heavy metal can absolutely learn from this, and maybe change up their bills so it's not the same rotation of 20 bands touring together. What hip hop/metal collaborations would you like to see?
Smartly, Blink and Wayne have released a mash up of two of their tracks:
[youtube=https://youtu.be/0Dpk2Hg-19Y][/youtube]
Blink-182 and Lil Wayne 2019 Co-Headlining Tour Dates:
05/11 – Miami, FL @ Rolling Loud Festival #
05/31 – New York, NY @ Governors Ball #
06/26 – St. Paul, MN @ Soundset #
06/27 – Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena
06/29 – Hartford, CT @ XFINITY Theatre
06/30 – Atlantic City, NJ @ Vans Warped Tour *
07/01 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center
07/03 – Indianapolis, IN @ Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center
07/05 – Hershey, PA @ Hersheypark Stadium
07/06 – Burgettstown, PA @ KeyBank Pavilion
07/07 – Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage *
07/07 – Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest #
07/09 – Holmdel, NJ @ P.N.C. Bank Arts Center *
07/10 – Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center
07/11 – Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live
07/13 – Bangor, ME @ Darling’s Waterfront Pavilion
07/14 – Quebec City, QB @ Festival d’été de Québec *
07/16 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center
07/17 – Darien Center, NY @ Darien Lake Amphitheatre
07/20 – Virginia Beach, VA @ Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater
07/21 – Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
07/23 – Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion
07/25 – West Palm Beach, FL @ Coral Sky Amphitheatre
07/26 – Tampa, FL @ MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
07/27 – Atlanta, GA @ Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood
07/29 – Jacksonville, FL @ Daily’s Place
07/31 – Houston, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
08/01 – Austin, TX @ Austin360 Amphitheater
08/02 – Dallas, TX @ The Dos Equis Pavilion
08/03 – Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza #
08/04 – El Paso, TX @ Don Haskins Center *
08/05 – Phoenix, AZ @ Ak-Chin Pavilion
08/07 – San Diego, CA @ North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre
08/08 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Forum
08/09-11 – San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands Music Festival
08/27 – Irvine, CA @ FivePoint Amphitheatre
08/30 – Portland, OR @ Sunlight Supply Amphitheater
08/31 – Seattle, WA @ White River Amphitheatre
09/02 – Salt Lake City, UT @ USANA Amphitheatre
09/04 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
09/06 – Wichita, KS @ Hartman Arena *
09/07 – Council Bluffs, IA @ Stir Cove *
09/08 – Kansas City, MO @ Providence Medical Center Amphitheater
09/10 – Detroit, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre
09/13 – Chicago, IL @ Riot Fest*
09/14 – St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
09/16 – Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
09/20-22 – Las Vegas, NV @ Life Is Beautiful Festival #
10/11-13 – Sacramento, CA @ Aftershock Festival *
- = w/ Blink-182 only
