It’s only been a little over a month since the tragic and apparent death of South African music superstar and businessman Riky Rick and his legacy continues to live on. Today the Cotton Fest team and organizers released their star-studded lineup featuring heavyweights from AKA, Cassper Nyovest, Big Zulu, Boity, to Sjava to mention a few.
The line up you’ve been waiting for! 🔥
In the faculty of Super Fine Arts, these talented artists (and many more) will be majoring in Musicology & Cottonology at the University of Cotton Fest! 🎶🎧
Class of 2022, pull up to see UCF finest! #CF2022 🙃 pic.twitter.com/TxqEQv1nXW
— CottonFest (@CottonFestJHB) March 31, 2022
This highly anticipated music and fashion festival will take place in April at The Station in Newtown, Johannesburg over a jam-packed two-day period from the 24th to the 25th in honor of the rapper and his contribution to Hip Hop music, fashion, and street culture.
The first announcement poster was shared on Instagram by the event’s founder and curator Rikhado Makhado popularly known as Riky Rick before his unforeseen passing. He established the Cotton Fest in 2019 and it gained traction from the onset and continued to become a huge success and one of the major events to look out for in all our social calendars.
He shared on Instagram that he’d been excited to share this year’s Cotton Fest with initial dates being the 19th – 20th of March, and with an interesting and youthful theme around the whole event. “This year we bring you the UNIVERSITY OF COTTON FEST. Our multi-layered festival campus experience includes 3 stages featuring over 100 of South Africa’s finest performers and DJs.” wrote Ricky.
During the two-day affair, the festival will incorporate several elements such as music, sports, and fashion to cater to the entertainment needs of a broad audience, primarily the youth.
The Cotton Fest movement and Riky’s legacy touched a lot of lives in South Africa and his fans feel as though they are part of him. Many shared both their excitement and outrage on Twitter following this announcement claiming that Ricky is probably turning in his grave after seeing some of the artists included in the lineup.
Many felt that the lineup is forced and does not align with what they believe would be Riky’s wishes. Cassper Nyovest caught the most smoke for appearing in the lineup with users referencing a recent interview he did with Yfm where he mentioned that Riky had reached out to him but his ego wouldn’t back down and allow them to set their differences aside.
Some artists that also got a backlash for making it into the line include Big Zulu, Sjava, and some Amapiano artists. Additionally, fans were highlighting that the event features a lot of Amapiano artists when in fact it is supposed to be celebrating Hip Hop culture, with some upset that the likes of Okmalumkoolkat, K.O and his Skhanda crew did not make it to the lineup.
They put Cassper Nyovest on the Cotton Fest line up, Riky is turning in his grave🤞🏽
— Marcus Jr🦁 (@dumisane_) March 31, 2022
Riky’s main goal, following the pandemic which affected many individuals in business, was to achieve a platform that supported the youth in the creative and business industry to sustain themselves financially. He told the Citizen, “With the huge support and backing from artists from around the country, we are ready to kickstart the road back to normality in a positive way, and get the Creator Economy going again.”
Tickets for this highly anticipated event are available online through WebTickets or from Pick n Pay outlets for a price ranging from R200 to R600.
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