It was all good just a week ago…
Last Monday I was eating gumbo in New Orleans as I was preparing to head back to Houston after an amazing time was had at Essence Music Fest. In case you’ve been living under a rock, the Essence Music Festival is held annually during Fourth of July weekend and if you haven’t been yet, you should put it on your bucket list! Essence calls it the official “party with a purpose” and I couldn’t agree more. At this year’s Essence Fest, I was educated just as much as I was entertained. I was lucky to win tickets to all three concerts from Essence Live and that was the biggest blessing ever because I had only purchased tickets for one day. That win turned my whole trip around and made it 100,000 times more exciting.
Keep reading for my recap of Essence Fest 2017:
Friday
I arrived in New Orleans on Friday morning and after checking into my hotel, I immediately got straight to work and delivered my books to the Essence Bookstore that was housed in the Convention Center, the same place where all of the festival’s daytime magic happened.
After that, I ate and then attended day one of the Millennial Entrepreneurs Redefined workshop at Essence Festival’s Path to Power Conference. It was very informative and I left feeling more confident about running my business. Once my learning was done for the day, I was able to enjoy some of the daytime experiences offered at the convention center. Yummy food, celebrity interviews, and so much more… Almost everyone there rocked the highly sought after swag bags offered by sponsors and other brands represented at the festival. Companies gave out samples and there was something going on practically everywhere you turned. It was a lot to take in and since my fave and best friend in my head, India Arie, was performing later that night I headed back to the hotel room to get ready.
Each night multiple artists are in concert at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The schedule was planned out and easily accessible on the Essence Festival mobile app or in the booklets they passed out to concert goers.I mainly wanted to go to Friday night’s concert for India and India only so I was open to whatever else. I also saw John Legend, Kelly Price and Diana Ross. They were all wonderful but there were like twenty artists performing that night so there was seemingly something for everyone.
Saturday
After witnessing the beautiful India Arie in concert the night before, I woke up with a mission to stalk her for the rest of the weekend. Wherever she was scheduled to be, I was trying to be there. On my quest to see all things India, I managed to finally get a cute swag bag (I only got one, I’m trying to minimize the stuff I already have and didn’t want to go home with a bunch of stuff) and see tons of celebrity interviews. I’m a fan of OWN’s “Queen Sugar” so I was excited to see the beautiful cast in person. The crowd was also blessed with the cast of HBO’s “Insecure” STARZ shows were well-represented as well and stars from three of their shows were interviewed and on panels all weekend long. There were screenings of television shows and movies, but I didn’t get to partake in those activities because I was scheduled to attend the second part of the Millennial Entrepreneurs workshop where we learned about strategies to help get funding for our businesses. Afterward, I attended a session where Kandi Burress-Tucker was giving some great business advice to folks in need. I definitely took plenty of notes before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the evening’s concerts.
Mary J. Blige curated the lineup for the Saturday night show and she did her thing in more ways than one. Monica jammed with all of her old school jams during a 30-minute set. Jasmine Sullivan, Lalah Hathaway, and Chaka Khan were also among the ladies whose shows I witnessed. But can we talk about Mary J. Blige though? She was everything! She had everybody rocking and her strength was shown despite whatever personal issues she’s had in the past year. I didn’t know how much I liked Mary until last week and because of her, I’ve been working out to get better thighs because I need legs like hers. Jhene Aiko and Remy Ma also performed on Saturday, but I didn’t get to see their sets. One thing I learned at Essence Fest this year is that sometimes you gotta make tough decisions and pick between some of your favorite artists. #FirstWorldProblems
Sunday
I can’t even lie, Sunday came too quickly. I woke up and headed to Essence’s Empowerment Experience for a Songversation with my bestie, India Arie. I was a bit disturbed because the first three or four rows were practically empty because they were reserved for folks with preferred seating and I happened to be sitting next to a woman who wouldn’t close her mouth. I took a few deep breaths and tried to enjoy the show to the best of my ability. On the same stage, there was also an interview with Xscape which was pretty cool. I browsed through the shops to support the vendors at the convention center, but couldn’t find an African print skirt that fit me to save my life.
After that, I left the convention center and headed to the day party at Harrah’s before I headed back to the hotel for a nap before the concerts started. To be honest, I didn’t do much partying I just sat down a bit before I got the strength to walk down the street in the heat, lol. They gave out cool souvenirs, water and had great music playing. All of this was free… That’s my kinda party!
Sunday night’s concerts were interesting to say the least. Everybody and their auntie was in the building to see Xscape but they were performing in a Superlounge and not the main stage so it was pure chaos trying to get to get upstairs. I ended up going to the June’s Diary show and then spending the rest of the evening looking at the main stage performers. There was a No Limit Records reunion that had a lot of us looking confused. I don’t work for Essence (yet) so I can’t give you an inside scoop or anything, but my prediction is that Master P and them didn’t attend sound check, practice or anything of the sort. People wished Xscape was on the main stage and I did too. Chance the Rapper closed out the show with his greatness so that made up for the No Limit struggle.
Final Recap
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Essence Fest. I know so much planning went into making it as amazing as it was and I’m so appreciative to Essence for continuously celebrating black culture in a major way. There were so many beautiful people in attendance and words can’t express how great it felt to feel like I belonged there. I was supposed to be there getting the encouragement I received and I left feeling empowered. If you’ve never been to Essence Fest, I encourage you to look into it and start making plans to attend. But know that it’s about so much more than music. The entrepreneurship workshops I attended had plenty of empty seats while people practically stood on top of one another to get a glimpse of celebrities. Essence Fest is about gathering to celebrate and improve the African American community, but that can only happen if we seek the knowledge they provide.
Now don’t get me wrong, running into famous familiar faces is a major perk of attending the Essence Festival. If you don’t believe me, just check out the usies I was able to get below. I didn’t accomplish my India Arie selfie mission but it’ll happen in due time…
I’d definitely attend Essence Fest again and hope and pray that I’ll be able to work there in some capacity one day soon. I just wanna be a part of the greatness that is Essence, you know? And plus, I’ve already mapped out a concert lineup that features the following artists:
Jagged Edge, 112, Boyz II Men, Xscape, New Edition, and SWV for the Celebration of Togetherness (still working on the name) but this night celebrates groups in Black music. It’d be epic, I just know. And y’all know I stan for India Arie so I’d like to get her some more time on the main stage. Brandy and Patti LaBelle would garner a large crowd as well. Does Anita Baker still perform? Ooh and what about Babyface? Let him curate a night with some of the artists he’s written for while he headlines. Hmmm.
Other folks I want to see perform at Essence Fest are Lil’ Mo, Musiq Soulchild, Algebra Blessett, Joe, Keke Wyatt, Anthony Hamilton, Sammie, and Tamia. You see how I’m getting the plans for the Superlounges all the way together? Call me Essence, let’s do this!
Have you ever been to Essence Fest or are you planning to attend the festival next year? Let me know in the comments section below…
If you don’t feel like this blog post was detailed enough and you need to see it to believe it, check out my vlog of my Essence Fest adventure by clicking here. Thanks so much for reading and if you like my lineup ideas, tweet this blog post @Essence so we can get to planning. I’ve got nothing but time!
