Art & Style
Jay-Z, Nas, Future Lead Hip-Hop’s Takeover of Meadows Festival in New York
Hip-hop continued to dominate the line-ups at this summer’s music festivals and the Meadows Music & Arts Festival in Queens, New York, which featured an all-star roster of rappers, was no different.
Headlining Friday’s line-up was Jay-Z, who made news by dedicating his “Story of OJ” song to socially active football player Colin Kaepernick, and recently deceased comedian and activist Dick Gregory.
Jay-Z, who will be going on tour next month, performed songs from albums over his 21-year career, including “Hard Knock Life,” “Izzo (H.O.V.A.) and “Empire State of Mind.” Other than a few sporadic appearances, this was Jay-Z’s first official show in New York since 2014’s On the Run Tour. He also brought out reggae artist Damien Marley to join him in performing “Bam” from the 4:44 album.
Queens natives Nas and LL Cool J were among the artists taking the stage over the course of the three-day festival, which was held at Citi Field last weekend.
LL’s performance featured a guest appearance from Hollis, Queens native Darryl (D.M.C.) McDaniels of Run-DMC. During Nas’ set, he joked that he was taking the crowd back to the cassette era with hits from his Illmatic album, including “Halftime,” and with other songs from his extensive catalog, including “Street Dreams” and “If I Ruled the World.”
Atlanta rapper Future took the crowd to another level Saturday night by bringing out Nicki Minaj, Yo Gotti and Young Thug, in addition to performing many of his hits songs, including “Too Much Sauce,” “Same Damn Time,” “Stick Talk” and his latest offering “Rake it Up.”
In addition to the day headliners, several of the top hip-hop acts of today, including Migos, 21 Savage, Mos Def, Pusha T, Flatbush Zombies, Tory Lanez and Run the Jewels, took the stage at the festival in several rousing sets.
Meadows Festival goers were also treated to performance from legendary soul singer Erykah Badu, who has delivered on slew of live performances this year. The festival also featured performances from legendary bands the Gorillaz, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Weezer.
Photos and video from the 2017 Meadows Festival are below.
