Breakout Festival 2018
Despite hip-hop and R&B becoming the dominant forces of popular music (a 2017 Nielsen study reported that they account for 25 percent of all music consumed in the U. S.), the genres were under-represented in this city’s live music scene—particularly in terms of up-and- coming local talent. So Vancouverite Johnny Black took action: he established promotions company Crescendo1 in 2015 for the express purpose of putting on all-ages shows (at Granville Island’s Red Gate Revue Stage and the now-shuttered Alexander Gastown) and supporting the music online. And now he’s teamed up with veteran concert promoter Timbre Productions to mount Vancouver’s first exclusively hip-hop/r&b festival since Rock the Bells in 2009. In addition to hosting many of the homegrown acts Black has been boosting over the past few years, the two- day fest boasts chart-topping Georgia trio Migos, Drake rival (and fellow Torontonian) Tory Lanez and New York City-based A Boogie wit da Hoodie, plus DJS, a food-truck area, access to Playland and more. —Michael White