Sole DXB 2019: Complex Canada’s Biggest Takeaways
Written by SOURCE on December 25, 2019
Once a year, the very finest in the realms of music, fashion, film, and visual arts converge in the City of Gold. Dubai, as you know, is a place filled with opulence and out-of-the-box occurrences. It is also home to one of the greatest lifestyle and culture festivals in the world, Sole DXB. Just shy of ten years old, Sole went from being a small gathering of like-minded hip-hop heads to a full-blown, branded-and-themed festival attracting over 20,000 people. (Dubai is also, incidentally, where I was born; I live in Montreal now.)
This year’s iteration boasted a Jumpman building with Ray Allen and Melody Ehsani as guests, a whole-ass graffitied metro train by Adidas, and just about every brand you can imagine. The theme this time around was “Jamaica,” with artists like Koffee and the legendary Lee “Scratch” Perry in tow—sans the smoke, obviously, as Dubai is ganja-free. But the vibes were still irie. Featuring sets by the Wu-Tang, Black Star, Proteje, YBN Cordae, and Dave East, Sole was both exhilarating and exhausting. I got to rock a solo set with my mans Thanks Joey as well. Between all the jet lag and shopping, here are a few amazing things I took away from the festival.
