Entertainment / April 19, 2022

We’ve partnered with Hennessy to curate the Hip Hop House at Body & Soul

Entertainment / April 19, 2022

We’ve partnered with Hennessy to curate the Hip Hop House at Body & Soul

Words: Eva O’Beirne

Aby Coulibaly, Mango x MathMan, Monjola, Strange Boy and many more will take to the stage this June.

Today, Hennessy has finally revealed the highly anticipated line-up for their renowned space at Body & Soul Festival. Curated by District, the stellar line-up of Irish and international hip hop acts will take over the Hennessy stage for the weekend of 17-19 June 2022.

After a two year hiatus and some proper time out to rethink and reimagine, Body & Soul has flipped its usual format on its head, halving its numbers and doubling its curatorial commitment. With just 5,500 weekend tickets available, the strikingly smaller three-day event will be a grown-up affair, with the promise of an unparalleled creative experience in the beautiful Ballinlough Castle Estate in Westmeath.

Year on year, Hennessy continues to invest in new Irish talent, securing its reputation amongst the Irish hip hop scene as tastemakers and champions of Irish music and culture.

Serving up the best in cultural expression and creative cocktails, Hennessy is thrilled to return for another amazing, eclectic celebration over three days and nights in June as part of the Westmeath-based festival’s immersive and adventurous weekend full of surprises. Promoting the bursting pool of Irish hip-hop, soul and R&B, this line-up is one not to be missed.

Leading the Friday night line-up is JyellowL, whose debut 2020 album D|vision reached No. 2 on the official iTunes album charts and was nominated for Irish album of the year at the 2020 RTÉ Choice Music Prize Awards, and neo-soul artist Tomike, psych-soul artist Caleb Kunle, Dublin hip-hop artist Ahmed, With Love., Drogheda rap star Alicia Raye, and finishing off the night are two incredible DJs, Bella Festa and Louise Chen.

Saturday kicks off with thought-provoking panel discussions featuring some of Ireland’s brightest minds and most culturally important contributors. Beginning the musical offerings will be the versatile and emotive UNQ, followed by Drimnagh rapper FYNCH, Cork conceptual artist Salamay, lo-fi hip-hop and R&B artist Shiv, singular Limerick rapper Strange Boy, jazz and R&B inspired rapper Nealo and getting you moving into the late-night party we’ve got Dublin MC and producer duo Mango X MathMan leading into a fabled b2b from Handsome Paddy and Bobofunk.

The Sunday serving will leave you wanting for more before you head home – panel talks will ease you into the day once more, opening for the Dundalk duo, Negro Impacto, followed by Dublin alt-rapper KhakiKid, multi-instrumentalist Abbacaxi, rapper and songwriter Celaviedmai, prolific rapper poet Malaki, alternative R&B artist Monjola from Lucan and partying the way into the last hurrah for Hennessy at Body & Soul 2022 is a DJ set from EMA B2B Jio.

Immersed in Irish heritage, Hennessy has evolved to become one of Ireland’s most well-known and cherished brands. Founded in Cognac, France in 1765 by Corkonian Richard Hennessy, the brand’s distinctly Irish heritage has stood the test of time and today draws on over 250 years of knowledge, talent, expertise and passion.

Weekend Tickets for Body & Soul start at 250 euro and are currently on sale via Ticketbooth.

Keep an eye on the District socials for some surprise additions to the line-up in the coming weeks.

Elsewhere on District: Róisín Murphy and Mogwai to headline Body & Soul 2022