Chance The Rapper Returns to Dallas May 5 to Headline JMBLYA Festival

Chance The Rapper is coming back to Dallas. The superstar rapper will headline ScoreMore’s fifth annual JMBLYA lineup, which currently includes Steve Aoki, Lil Uzi Vert, 6Black and Young Dolph, with more artists to be announced soon, along with the venue. JMBLYA kicks off Friday, May 5, in Dallas with...

By Mikel Galicia

January 23, 2017

Chance the Rapper performing at Southside Ballroom in November 2015. Mikel Galicia

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Chance The Rapper is coming back to Dallas. The superstar rapper will headline ScoreMore’s fifth annual JMBLYA lineup, which currently includes Steve Aoki, Lil Uzi Vert, 6Black and Young Dolph, with more artists to be announced soon, along with the venue.

JMBLYA kicks off Friday, May 5, in Dallas with the second part of the festival taking place in Austin the following night on Saturday, May 6. Today’s announcement keeps with JMBLYA’s tradition of blending hip-hop and dance performers since its inception in 2013.

click to enlarge

JMBLYA released their 2017 lineup today.

courtesy JMBLYA

Last year JMBLYA drew more than 10,000 people to Fair Park’s Cotton Bowl plaza when rapper Future headlined the festival with Rae Sremmurd and Post Malone. Past performers include Big Boi, PartyNextDoor, G-Eazy, Travis $cott, Carnage, Metro Boomin and Kevin Gates.

Chicago native Chance The Rapper, 23, has earned critical acclaim and a legion of fans with his inventive, dexterous and positive raps with a tint of gospel and traditional rap sonics.

The independent rapper has headlined JMBLYA once before, but this performance is particularly exciting since he is coming off the biggest year of his career. His 2016 release, Coloring Book, earned three Grammy nominations including Best Rap Album, making it the first streaming-only album to earn that designation.

ScoreMore brought in another superstar for 2017 in the form of Steve Aoki, who has been a staple in the EDM world for over a decade, as well as quite a few up-and-comers who will likely bolster the company’s reputation for also booking artists early in their careers. Some of the younger artists on the bill include 6 Black, YFN Lucci and Lil Uzi Vert, who exploded onto the hip-hop scene in 2016.

In each of its three previous years, JMBLYA has outgrown its venue, moving from South Side Ballroom to Main Street Garden to Deep Ellum to Fair Park. While this year’s location is yet to be announced, it will hold thousands of attendees as well as the amenities JMBLYA has added to the festival, such as food trucks, mini arcades, water slides, cooling stations, VIP areas and more. (Ed. Note: on Feb. 10, JMBLYA announced that it will return to Fair Park this year. Gucci Mane and Migos have also been added to the lineup.)

General admission tickets are $25 at jmblya.com. A limited number of special VIP packages are also available, with prices going up to $299.

click to enlarge

Last May, JMBLYA was headlined by Future, Rae Sremmurd and Post Malone.

Mikel Galicia

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Mikel Galicia is a trap scholar, the softest writer on the scene and his photo game is jumping out the gym. His work has been published in Sports Illustrated, ESPN and every major Dallas publication.