Rock The Bells Festival will return to Newark over Thanksgiving weekend with LL COOL J, SWV, Method Man & Redman, and Lil’ Kim among the performers scheduled for a multigenerational celebration of hip-hop.
The festival is set for Sunday, Nov. 29, at the Prudential Center, where organizers say the event will close out Hip-Hop History Month with performances spanning several eras of rap and R&B.
LL COOL J, who founded Rock The Bells, will headline the festival alongside R&B group SWV, rap duo Method Man & Redman, and Lil’ Kim. DJ D-Nice will lead a specially curated set featuring LeToya Luckett, David Banner, and The LOX—Jadakiss, Styles P, and Sheek Louch—among others.
Organizers said additional performers and special guests will be announced in the coming weeks.
“Hip-hop has shaped the world for more than five decades, and Rock The Bells exists to honor the people who made that history and keep the culture moving upward,” LL COOL J said in a statement.
He said returning to Newark during the holiday weekend offered an opportunity to bring together artists and fans from different generations while giving back to the community.
“There’s something special about seeing artists and fans from different generations come together under one roof,” he said. “Bringing that energy back to Newark over Thanksgiving weekend feels right.”
The festival is produced by Rock The Bells and the Black Promoters Collective, a Black-owned live entertainment company. Organizers are billing this year’s event as “Home for the Holidays,” positioning the festival as both a concert and a celebration of hip-hop’s cultural legacy.
The event will also include a community-focused component tied to the holiday season, though organizers have not yet released details about those efforts.
Rock The Bells was founded as a platform to celebrate hip-hop’s pioneers while connecting them with newer generations of artists and audiences. The festival’s return to the Prudential Center follows its 2025 event at the Newark arena.
Shelby Joyner, president of the Black Promoters Collective, said the partnership is intended to recognize hip-hop’s influence while creating a large-scale live experience centered on Black culture.
“Rock The Bells Festival embodies that mission,” Joyner said. “Together with LL COOL J, we’re producing an experience that honors Hip-Hop’s pioneers, celebrates its influence, and brings generations together through the music that continues to shape culture around the world.”
The festival arrives more than five decades after hip-hop emerged from New York City’s Bronx borough and grew into a global cultural and commercial force encompassing music, dance, fashion, visual art and other forms of expression.
Tickets will be released in stages this week. An exclusive presale began Tuesday and runs through 10 a.m. Eastern on Thursday. A local, venue and promoter presale begins at 10 a.m. Thursday and ends at 11:59 p.m.
General ticket sales begin Friday at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster, according to organizers.
Additional lineup announcements and details about the festival’s holiday community initiatives are expected ahead of the Nov. 29 event.
