Blavity House Fest With Dru Hill, Rick Ross & More: Best Moments
At the intersection of 615 Day 2023 and Juneteenth Weekend lies the inaugural Blavity House Party. Holsted by Blavity Media Group, the new festival took more than Nashville, Tennessee, on June 14 and 15, treating locals and travelers alike to two nights of fiery performances in celebration of Juneteenth and Black Music Month.
Hosted by Zack Fox, Bridget Kelly and Mani Millss, Blavity House Party boasted a slew of performers across the myriad genres of the Black diaspora, such as Monica, Rick Ross, K. Michelle, Dru Hill, Uncle Waffles, Blxst, Ryan Leslie, Leon Thomas, Big Freedia, Freeway, Lil’ Mo, Travis Porter, Reyna Roberts, Nesta, Domani and extra. In addition to the two overall performance stages (one particular outdoors and one particular inside Music City’s storied Municipal Auditorium), the patio hosted a bevy of nearby Black-owned organizations for festivalgoers to assistance.
The festival’s opening day got off to a semi-sanctified start off with a rousing overall performance from Sainted Trap Choir. With a tight choreography and tighter arrangements, the choir ripped via a medley that combined each secular and pop hits, such as Travis Porter’s “Make It Rain,” Victoria Monét’s “On My Mama,” Tyla’s “Water” and Kirk Franklin’s “Melodies from Heaven.” Big Freedia kept the power higher with a NOLA-exalting bounce set that featured endless twerking and racy fellatio demonstrations from her backup dancers, though Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter Leon Thomas enraptured the audience with his honeyed vocals and impressive guitar capabilities.
Despite powerful performances from day one’s performers, the meager audience turnout was not possible to ignore. As the day went on, the floor began to fill up, with legendary R&B group Dru Hill drawing the most passionate crowd of the evening. Celebrating extra than 25 years of hits, Sisqó led his fellow group members in impressive renditions of timeless hits like “Tell Me” and “In My Bed,” flaunting the energy of their reside vocals and pristine harmonies. With their set, Dru Hill was capable to capture lightning in a bottle and genuinely make Blavity House Party really feel like a need to-see festival. Nonetheless, that power rapidly dissipated as the crowd waited anxiously for Lil Wayne — who was scheduled as the night’s headliner — just for the “A Milli” rapper to ghost the festival, offering no explanation for his absence.
In an work to make up for the final-minute disappointment of day one particular, Blavity House Party packed on a number of extra performers for the festival’s second day, such as Lil Scrappy, Rick Ross and Tennessee native K. Michelle. Standout performers from day two incorporated outlaw nation princess Reyna Roberts — who place on a blazing show to match her red-hot hair — and hip-hop trio Travis Porter, who have offered a timeless soundtrack to Black residence parties for practically 15 years and counting. Lil Scrappy, one thing of a musical forefather to Travis Porter, also lit up the auditorium with lively performances of ’00s classics such as “Head Bussa” and “Neva Eva.”
Clearly an eleventh-hour addition, K. Michelle breezed via a six-minute set that incorporated renditions of “Can’t Raise a Man” and “V.S.O.P.” Curiously, the chart-topping R&B star did not carry out any of her nation songs, although she did confirm that her extended-awaited nation album is nevertheless on the way. Headliner Monica took fans down memory lane with a set that spurred mass sing-alongs to some of her most beloved tracks, such as “So Gone” and “Before You Walk Out of My Life.”
Once once again, the show threatened to fly off the rails close to the finish of the evening. Rick Ross’ music was shockingly reduce quick about six songs into his set. After requesting his DJ drop the subsequent track, silence ensued. The DJ continued to press buttons to figure out the scenario, but inside the subsequent seven minutes, Ricky Rozay had provided away a bottle of Belaire champagne, threw on his backpack, and exited the stage for excellent, creating for a sudden and unforgettable finish to the inaugural Blavity House Party.
Here are the six greatest moments from Blavity House Party 2024.
-
Leon Thomas Mounts Swoonworthy Set
From starring alongside Ariana Grande on Victorious to winning Grammys with SZA and Babyface, Leon Thomas has been captivating audiences for his complete profession. With his Blavity Hosue Fest debut, Thomas turned up the heat with a sensual set largely comprised of selections from his acclaimed debut LP, Electric Dusk. With his malleable vocals ripping via thoughts-bending riffs and his instrumental capabilities on complete show with his guitar, Thomas helped set the R&B tone for the evening ahead of Dru Hill’s set, reminding every person that this is the genre for the correct lovers.
-
Reyna Roberts Sets the Stage Ablaze
Reyna Roberts has been riding higher all year considering that the release of Beyoncé‘s culture-rocking Cowboy Carter LP. The outlaw nation princess might have lent her vocals to two Cowboy Carter tracks, the Billboard Hot 100 hits “Blackbiird” (No. 27) and “Tyrant” (No. 44), but her Blavity House Party set was all about her personal music.
Ripping via spirited renditions of “Raised Right,” “Lawless” and “Louisiana,” Roberts packed on the pyrotechnics as she strutted up and down the stage with the sensual swagger of Queen Bey herself. Decked out in a bedazzled black leotard and cowboy hat, Roberts took benefit of the tiny crowd and opted for a extra intimate strategy midway via her set. For “Lousiana,” she took a seat on the side of the stage and sang exclusively to the left side of the crowd, displaying off each her bombastic vocals and effortless charisma.
-
Big Freedia Turns Nashville Into NOLA
Whether there are 10 persons in the audience or 10,000, Big Freedia is usually going to blow the roof off the venue. Although she hit the stage pretty early in the day, the Queen Diva delivered the festival’s most regularly higher-octane set, as she transported Music City to New Orleans, the bounce capital of the planet.
Flanked by a quartet of dancers championing various Black regional dance designs — tripping out, twerking, bucking, oh my! — Freedia’s booming voice echoed across the venue, beckoning each and every audience member to dance as really hard as probable. Rolling via notable bounce cuts like “Y’all Get Back Now” and “N.O. Bounce,” Freedia genuinely held it down for Louisiana — a moment that only felt extra vital in the wake of Lil Wayne’s no-show.
-
Rick Ross Plays Last-Minute Hero & Villain
Rick Ross has been the year’s most significant troll considering that he entered the Future/Metro Boomin/Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake beef, and for a moment, it looked like he was going to troll the Blavity House Party audience, as well.
Despite getting a late addition to the festival, Ross’ set came comprehensive with flashy visuals and interludes, as effectively as a white bottle of Belaire champagne his group gifted an audience member shortly ahead of he abruptly wrapped his set. Kicking items off with “I’m a Boss” ahead of launching into unaccompanied hits like “B.M.F.” and “I’m Not a Star,” Ricky Rozay kept the crowd rocking as he recited his verses though donning a white two-piece Balenciaga set.
In common troll style, Ross didn’t skip more than his myriad Drake collaborations. Instead, the 6 God’s voice rang out across the auditorium in the course of Ross’ performances of “I’m on One,” “Aston Martin Music” and “Diced Pineapples.” What can you say, a hit is a hit!
While Ross may possibly have place on his superhero cape to save the rep of topline mainstream rappers at the festival, he did stumble into his villain era when he abruptly left the stage just after his music was seemingly reduce off by the powers that be, efficiently ending the festival on a especially sour note.
-
Lil’ Mo Brings the House Down
The genuine ones enjoy Lil’ Mo, and the Blavity House Party audience was filled with genuine ones. The Grammy-nominated, Billboard chart-topping R&B star sang the roof off of Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium, delivering the festival’s most impressive vocal overall performance outdoors of Dru Hill — and she did it totally solo.
In addition to treating the crowd to close to-flawless renditions of “Superwoman Pt. II,” “I Cry” and “1st Time,” Lil’ Mo also took a web page out of Beyoncé’s book and incorporated some existing hits into her set. The New York singer-songwriter blended SZA’s “Snooze,” Tinashe’s “Nasty,” Lil Uzi Vert’s “Just Wanna Rock” and TiTom and Yuppe’s “Tshwala Bam” into her set, displaying off her dance capabilities and organic magnetism in the approach.
-
Dru Hill Smashes 25th Anniversary Celebration
If Lil’ Mo happy the crowd’s craving for some excellent ole flat-footed singing on day two, Dru Hill did the identical on day one particular. The R&B trio’s endlessly impressive set was much less of a nostalgia-streaked trip down memory lane and extra of a reminder that they are of the final generation to genuinely prioritize the foundational components of showmanship and reside overall performance.
With a lot of a cappella moments to remind the audience, in Sisqó’s personal words, that “these mics are on,” Dru Hill also incorporated classic choreography from their music videos and stellar solo showcases for each and every of its members. Of course, Sisqó drew the most excited crowd response with his solo material — he unsurprisingly opted for “Thong Song” and DMX’s “What These B—-es Want” — but Jazz had the most enrapturing solo set of the evening. The vocal powerhouse killed the lead vocal on “Never Make a Promise,” riffing to higher heaven, sweat be damned.
Jazz’s spirited overall performance raised the bar for the rest of the guys’ solo moments, with Scola belting for his life on “I Love You” and Smoke delivering a sultry, variety-traversing cover of D’Angelo’s seminal “Untitled.” When a group has a catalog filled with timeless hits like “Tell Me,” “In My Bed” and “We’re Not Making Love No More,” extremely small can go incorrect on the overall performance front. But when you have voices like Dru Hill’s at the helm, you are in for 40 minutes of the sort of singing we do not get to hear in the mainstream that normally currently — and how welcome and glorious it is.
