This Thursday, Pusha-T will headline New York City’s Gramercy Theater in support of his new EP, Fear of God II.

While Pusha-T may be best known as one-half of acclaimed duo Clipse, and for his contributions to Kanye West’s hit song, “Runaway”, make no mistake, 2011 has been a huge year for the artist. He stepped out with his debut solo mixtape, Fear of God in March, and followed it up with a star-studded sequel, Fear of God II, released last month. The EP features the likes of Diddy, Kanye West, Pharrell, 50 Cent and Tyler the Creator.

Gramercy Theater is, in my opinion, one of the best venues in the city – don’t miss your chance to see Pusha-T in such an intimate setting. Openers include NinjaSonik, Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire, Gilbere Forte, Emilio Rojas and Jasmine Solano. Get your tickets HERE.

Next month, A-Trak will embark on a cross-country tour with Kid Sister and The Gaslamp Killer. A-Trak has a knack for combining electro and hip hop (if you don’t know what we mean, CLICK HERE to check out his last mixtape, Dirty South Dance 2), and is best known for his legendary scratching skills, for which he won the DMC World Championship at the tender age of 15 (the youngest winner to date). Lately, A-Trak has kept busy as one half of Duck Sauce, who’s single, “Barbra Streisand” was an international hit. We’re hoping this tour will give us a preview of what we can expect from A-Trak’s upcoming album.

Joining the Magic 8-Ball Tour on the ones and twos is The Gaslamp Killer, who we saw this past weekend at A Taste of Sonar in London. From what we saw, GLK is a perfect match-up for this tour; like A-Trak, he has an uncanny way of mixing hip hop with electro (and has some scratching skills to boot), but the two artists’ styles are completely different.

The Magic 8-Ball Tour hits NYC’s Terminal 5 on Saturday, April 30 with special guest The Clipse. Get a full list of tour dates and links to purchase tickets HERE.

Rock the Bells 2010 has landed, bringing a slew of hip hop greats to four cities across the nation. Headlined by Wu-Tang Clan, Rakim, KRS-One and Slick Rick, the line-up also includes Street Sweeper Social Club (led by Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello), Clipse, Jedi Mind Tricks and more. Lauryn Hill is also slated to appear.

Though the line-up is stacked with hip hop veterans, we initially disappointed with the scarcity of current and up-and-coming artists. However, Rock the Bells is shaking things up this year with a new twist: the four headliners will perform their debut albums from start to finish – Slick Rick’s The Great Adventures Of (1989), KRS-One’s Criminal Minded (1987), Rakim’s Paid in Full (1987) and the Wu-Tang Clan’s groundbreaking Enter the 36 Chambers (1993) – a move that may have been inspired by Public Enemy’s outstanding performance of It Takes A Nation of Millions at last year’s Root’s Picnic in Philadelphia.

Rock the Bells hits New York City’s Governor’s Island on August 28. For updates on the line-up, set times and tickets, visit the official Rock the Bells website.

Last week, ?uestlove took to Twitter to announce the initial line-up for the third annual Roots Picnic in Philadelphia. Vampire Weekend, Mayer Hawthorne, and The Very Best will join The Roots, along with Clipse, Tune-Yards, Das Racist, DJ Jazzy Jeff, MM Jam Boys, and Bajah + The Dry Eye Crew.

In his video announcement, ?uestlove promised to top last year’s spectacular performance with Public Enemy with a special surprise reunion. “This is a reunion that we thought we would never get,” he said of the surprise guest, “We’ve been waiting to make this reunion happen for the longest. It’s so incredible, I don’t even want to tell you who it is.” Judging by his hint – a gold chain and black fedora – we’re putting our money on Run DMC:

The Roots Picnic will take place at the Festival Pier in Philadelphia. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets, and be sure to check out photos from last year’s picnic, featuring Antibalas, Santigold, The Black Keys, Public Enemy, T.V. on the Radio, The Roots, and more. Watch ?uestlove’s video announcement after the jump…

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