Hip-hop collective Hieroglyphics will perform at this weekend’s Love Festival

 This year, the Love Festival welcomes Bay Area hip-hop giants the Hieroglyphics to Honolulu, pinning down a long-running element of the EDM-oriented event. The Oakland crew headline Day One of Love Festival, which has expanded to two nights for the first time this year.

The first night will feature hip-hop, reggae and an ample supply of EDM beats and bravado, including the island’s most recognizable DJs, while the second night will feature a traditional electronica theme.

"We bring the street. We bring legends. We bring culture. We bring it," said event organizer Greg Dehnert, aka DJ G-Spot. "We bring new, we bring old, we bring rock ‘n’ roll."

The Hieroglyphics were an essential component of West Coast hip-hop in the ’90s and beyond. A Bay Area collective made up of emcees Pep Love, Del the Funky Homosampien, Casual and Souls of Mischief (Opio, Tajai, A-Plus, Phesto), crafting compound rhymes and intricate lyrics with merit and skill, and DJ and producer Domino, all will perform at the festival.

"(The Hieroglyphics) is what Hawaii wanted," Dehnert said, explaining the decision to book the entire crew. "All the members, all the skills. That’s what Hawaii deserves, and it wasn’t easy."

Early Hieroglyphics music, specifically Souls of Mischief’s classic "93 Til Infinity," resonated with underground hip-hop fans on a national level. Successful sub-crews and solo successes emerged.

Tracks like "You Never Knew" (1998) helped bring them to Hawaii’s attention. The music video was filmed on Oahu, which features members rapping in Waikiki, at Ala Moana Center and near Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck, among other recognizable locales.

Now with three studio albums, one live album and numerous side projects on the record, the group has established a cult following that became a base of loyal listeners around the world.

Reached by phone, Jon "Casual" Owens said the crew made three good decisions that helped them stay relevant: successfully steering themselves away from popular rap trends, staying true to the art and keeping creative control away from music-industry gatekeepers.

"We started as grade-school friends long before we became Hiero," said Owens. "This was not a manufactured group. We were friends before music and will remain friends for as long as we remain loyal to each other. Our relationship with music supersedes our relationship with the music business."

The emcees are now highly experienced, as veterans of top flight multigenre festivals like Coachella and Kaleidoscope as well as hip-hop gatherings like Rock the Bells, Paid Dues and Soundset.

They’ve also remained attached to their home community, with the establishment of Hiero Day, a festival in their native city of Oakland that was established in 2012. Last year an estimated 15,000 people took part in the Labor Day weekend tradition.

While EDM loyalists will be in full force come Friday, Hieroglyphics members say they welcome the chance to play in front of a diverse audience.

"Festivals are great, because people who are not necessarily fans of our music still get to see us rock, and in turn hopefully they become interested in our musical catalog and become fans themselves," said Damani "Phesto" Thompson.

"We have many more goals," Thompson said. "Our drive and hunger to achieve them have not waned over time; they have intensified, because there’s a lot more at stake."