It was a grand opening, grand closing moment for the Meadows Music and Arts festival as hip-hop legends made big statements on the final day.
The sun shined brighter than ever across the Citi Field parking lot on Sunday (Sept. 17) with an even amount of folks ready for acts like Nas and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. The allure of rap was hard to ignore across all four stages thanks to Kamiyah, who performed on the Shea stage and Action Bronson, who took over the Queens Blvd. stage.
Here’s what you missed.
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Fantastic Negrito Encourages Us To Bust A Move (Or Two)
He might’ve been an early performer at the festival, but that didn’t stop him from bringing funk, soul and blues to the Queens Blvd. Stage. The Bay Area native slayed with songs from his Grammy winning album, The Last Days of Oakland. The party didn’t stop on stage as he floated around the Artist and Media Tents grooving with fans in very trendy diggs.
That Lit Part: Hip-hop and EDM found love in a DJ place thanks to sets by Miami’s GTA and Norway’s Lido. The fellas of GTA (Matthew Van Toth, Julio Mejia) also enjoyed a little company when a child found their way on stage.
The Employee Who Scheduled Action Bronson & Ghostface Killah Back To Back Needs A Raise
Fans didn’t have to choose between Ghostface and Action Bronson since they performed an hour apart. Bronson was up first on the Queens Blvd. stage, where he took several chances to sign hats and his F*ck That’s Delicious “cookbooks” thrown on stage.
Ghostface commanded the crowd at the American Eagle stage thanks to his live band The Revolutionaries. Cuts from the Supreme Clientele, Ironman and Fishscale blared from the speakers and out to the fans.
That “Thinking Emoji” Part: Just before Ghost took the stage, the crowd was greeted by Russell Simmons who informed the crowd a film was being shot during the rapper’s set. “iSpy” creator Kyle leaped to the stage to perform his hit twice, cause movies. Simmons also stuck around to check out Ghostface’s set from the photo pit, cause why not.
Blair Underwood was also on stage, making fans of Krush Groove lose their marbles. For context, Underwood played Simmons in the 1985 flick about the creation of Krush Groove records, an ode to the early days of Def Jam Recordings.
Their film reportedly titled After Party will also feature other hip-hop acts and will land on Netflix soon. For now, we’ll keep scratching our heads.
The pairing wasn’t the only odd one of the weekend. After enjoying a weekend in Barbados, Wendy Williams came through to the Meadows Stage to check out Nas’ touching set. The talk show queen also chatted it up with Nicki Minaj, who was present for the second day in a row to show love to Mr. Nasir Jones.
Of course, we would end up seeing the potential couple on Instagram in matching Gucci outfits, making Queens natives proud.
Nas Pays Tribute To Prodigy During Celebratory Earthstrong Set
Nas’ set featured all the looks from an emotions chart thanks to deep cuts and monumental classics. Before kicking off his set with “The Message,” the rapper showed his fellow Virgos love. Jumping from “It Ain’t Hard to Tell,” to “Hate Me Know” all the way to “Halftime,” the rapper filled the hearts of fans with sheer joy.
After taking a few moments to examine the crowd, the Queensbridge native jumped into “Got Yourself A Gun,” “Made You Look” and fan-favorite, “One Mic.”
That Teary-eyed Part: Midway into his performance, Nasir performed three songs by Mobb Deep’s Prodigy, including “It’s Mine” and “Shook Ones.” He also signed a few t-shirts and Illmatic vinyls from fans. We’re just hoping they landed back into the rightful owner’s hands and not on Ebay.
Relive Day 1 and Day 2 of the Meadows Music and Arts festival here and here.