NEW ORLEANS — Nearly 30 years ago, creators of Essence Magazine came to New Orleans to celebrate the publication’s 25th anniversary with a salute to Black women highlighting culture, empowerment conversations with the nation’s thought leaders and, of course, music.
The Essence Music Festival has since morphed into the Essence Festival of Culture, which, in its 29th year, kicks off and goes through July 3 across various venues in downtown New Orleans.
The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center will hold most of the free workshops, vendor exhibits and celebrity meet-and-greets.
Blocks away, the Superdome will host nightly ticketed performances by artists including headliners Lauryn Hill, Missy Elliott and Megan Thee Stallion as the festival commemorates 50 years of hip-hop.
Hakeem Holmes, a New Orleans native and newly appointed vice president of the festival, describes the festival as a “crown jewel of Black culture” that “plays a pivotal role in the amplification and celebration of the contributions of the Black community through business, music and more.”
“This is the first time three black women emcees are headlining,” Holmes noted. “That’s representative of the growth and the direction we’re taking the event. It’s important to have the attention of the audience we’re serving. We’re attracting younger generations now so we’ve had to grow. It’s exciting that throughout out each night we’ll feature younger artists alongside the legends.”
New Orleans has hosted every festival except for 2006, when it moved to Houston while the Superdome underwent Hurricane Katrina -related repairs. In 2020 and 2021, Essence was staged virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hill returns to the festival’s stage after a surprise cameo performance at last year’s festival with her former Fugees bandmate, Wyclef Jean. Friday night’s show will also commemorate the 25th anniversary of her five-time Grammy Award winning project,
“The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.” Rap icon Doug E. Fresh, to mark hip-hop’s 50th anniversary, will lead a night of performances by rap pioneers including Slick Rick, Big Daddy Kane, EPMD and KRS-One. Also scheduled to perform are Tems, Jagged Edge, Ari Lennox and New Orleans’ own Juvenile.
