Joey Bada$$ & Little Simz Shut Down France Ahead Of The Check the Rhyme Fest

In case you were stuck under a rock (or were stuck like us working stateside), France exploded last week with multiple shows from young hip-hop upstarts Joey Bada$$ and Little Simz. Both played separate sets, Simz taking over Paris while Joey rocked forth and back in Lyon. The paths of these two hurricanes collided last Wednesday in Nice, where both played a prequel show to this year's Check The Rhyme Festival and proceeded to all-but-obliterate the adoring crowd in attendance.

Okayplayer's French correspondent (and NOw FUTUR executive) Mr. Mass was on the French riviera scene, intrepidly roving throughout the venue shooting video, taking still photos and keeping notes. Here's his description of Joey Bada$$ and Simz's performances:

Simz did her thing again this time, catching a totally unconquered crowd and setting them on fire in all but a second. It was also Joey's last date on his tour and he came in with a fucked up voice--a bit tired from giving interviews to every single blog since the begin of his tour. He ended up providing a major boom-bapish, futuristic hip-hop show. His voice was back and the energy never left. It all had a nice positive spirit. Great show.

It was a prequel to the second edition of the Check The Rhyme Festival. The second one is gonna be epic: Schoolboy Q, Skepta, KRS-One, Pusha T, MZ and Guizmo for France

and the NOw FUTUR squad to turn the party up during the two days 24 and 25th of july in Nice.

There was no downtime between Simz and Bada$$'s set, thanks to NOw FUTUR's own Dtweezer holding court above the decks and treating the crowd to a top-notch batch of future beats. One could go on and on about how great a night it was in Nice, but photos and videos do it a much greater justice. Watch clips of both Joey Bada$$ and Little Simz below, and peruse a full photo gallery of the evening--all shot by Mass--above