It’s not every day that the Hollywood Bowl becomes a haven for hip-hop and R&B, but with some help from T-Pain and his talented friends, Los Angeles’ most iconic concert venue became just that on Juneteenth.
The two-time Grammy-winner, decorated hit-maker, and all-around modern musical maverick brought together a slew of brilliant artists including David Banner, Jordin Sparks, Tevin Campbell, Ledisi, Lalah Hathaway, and D Smoke to celebrate both the liberation of Black people and their wide-ranging contributions to—if not outright authorship of—American popular culture.
The festivities began with a stirring rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” from Tina Campbell. The Inglewood native and former half of the gospel duo Mary Mary belted her way through the hymn better known as “The Black National Anthem” with support from the DC6 Singers and an orchestra led by Derrick Hodge—both of whom provided a stellar sonic backdrop to the evening. The warmups continued with Ledisi on the mic. The soul singer from New Orleans wowed the crowd with both her Grammy-winning hit “Anything For You” and her shimmering gold dress.
T-Pain then made his first appearance of the night—but hardly his last. Rather than diving straight into his Top 40-filled repertoire as he had for his Bonnaroo late-night set a few nights prior, the Tallahassee native offered his own nod to the American civil rights movement of the 1960s with a moving cover of “A Change is Gonna Come”. Though he made his name as an Auto-Tune pioneer in the 2000s, T-Pain didn’t need any technological help matching Sam Cooke’s tone and pitch with his own gifted pipes. Once he finished, the Nappy Boy Entertainment founder quickly ceded center stage back to the bevy of performers he brought with him to the Bowl.
Next up was Lalah Hathaway. The daughter of the late Donny Hathaway showed off some impressive pipes of her own on her song “Angel” before shining on her father’s tune “Someday We’ll All Be Free” with hip-hop accompaniment from D Smoke and flute by Elena Pinderhughes. D Smokem the Inglewood-born rapper who first hit it big after winning Netflix’s Rhythm + Flow in 2019, stuck around for a medley of tracks that included “No Commas”, “Black Habits”, and “Common Sense”. Tina Campbell then returned to sing her latest single, “Pray For Me”, en route to brief intermission.
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After the break, T-Pain got the crowd out of their seats and dancing for a high-octane segment featuring some of his biggest and most notable club anthems. The man of the hour tipped things off with a pair of his own radio hits in “I’m Sprung” and “Up Down” before taking a back seat as LaRussell rushed in to perform “Go Live” and “Get That Bag”. From there, a distinctly R&B vibe fell across the Hollywood Bowl as Iniko sang her heart out to “Jericho” and “They Don’t Really Care About Us.” The native Brooklynite gave way to Jordin Sparks, who had everyone grooving to Whitney Houston’s “Dance With Somebody”. Before stepping off, the former American Idol winner dropped the house into a deep well of 2000s nostalgia with “No Air”.
The vibes quickly picked back up with Flyana Boss. The L.A.-based rap duo busted out their own hit, “You Wish”, and then paid homage to Missy Elliott with a take on her classic “Lose Control”. Once Flyana Boss flew off, T-Pain made a brief return to perform another of his many hits, “Freeze”, then stepped aside for another throwback as Lloyd came on to croon to his 2007 classic, “Get It Shawty”, as well as Michael Jackson’s “PYT”.
Tevin Campbell came on for “Can We Talk” and Durand Bernarr wowed the crowd with his incredible vocal range on “I Like It” and Prince’s “I Would Die For You”—but not before another welcomed interlude from T-Pain. The man on the marquee preceded Tevin’s cameo with “Good Life” and “Can’t Believe It”, and followed up Durand’s appearance with the anthemic “Bartender”.
David Banner joined the fun as the final guest of the night. The Mississippi-born rapper and producer had the audience stunting with “Get Like Me” and, after dropping “Like a Pimp”, took a moment to pay his respects to T-Pain. That speech, along with a shower of love and appreciation from the crowd, had T-Pain in tears.
After emerging from that wave of emotion, T-Pain gave a heartfelt speech about leaving behind the institutional music industry—along with all the hatred and toxicity it brought his way—in 2018 to go fully independent with his own imprint. In that same vein, he took a moment to marvel at how he was able to bring this show together without support from a major label, and thanked everyone involved for taking part.
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The singer used those moments as fuel for a jubilant finale to what was already a tremendous night of music. From covering Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” and rolling out smash hits in “I’m N Luv (Wit a Stripper)”, “Kiss Kiss”, and “Buy U A Drank” to sending the audience home with his latest single, “Dreaming”, the artist born Faheem Rashad Najm made sure everyone ended the holiday on a high note.
Fortunately for T-Pain’s fans, that was just the beginning of a busy summer/fall tour. He’ll spend the rest of June into early July playing shows up and down the East Coast before jetting off to Hawaii to perform at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu on July 13th. Come August, T-Pain will be back on the road as the supporting act on Pitbull’s “Party After Dark” tour, with a headlining gig alongside Akon at the famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre set for the end of October.
For a full list of upcoming T-Pain tour dates, head here. Scroll down to view a recap video via T-Pain and photos from the Juneteenth celebration at Hollywood Bowl via Josh Martin.
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