For the last 18 years, the Essence Music Festival has been the go-to event for African-Americans, especially African-American women. For three days in New Orleans, hundreds of thousands show up for R&B and gospel concerts and panels on politics, financial planning and parenting. Over 300,000  people attended all the different events for this years Essence Music Festival as they, for the first time ever, held 4 days (use to be 3 days) of great music and entertainment.

Tamar Braxton, Toya Wright, was in the build to see MJB…. Tank, Tyrese, Ledisi and Mary Mary also hit the stage. I want to make sure to tell the people at Essence I had a wonderful time listening to great music.

MC Lyte, was in the building… For the first time ever the festival had a Thursday kick off.

Saturdays act wowed me as I watched Mary J. Blige singed her a** off. She killed it…. Now i’ve seen Mary perform over 20 times, but this was by far the best. The Queen of R&B sung her heart out on the stage for 2 hours and gave us all she got.

Actress Elise Neal was in the bulding… Kevin Heart wowed the crowd and showed that he’s actually a pretty funny comedian and not just an a**whole.

I also got to see for the first time Kevin Hart who I’ve never seen perform a live show as a headline comedian. If you missed it, you’ll be able to purchase it he  filmed his performances for a new comedy special. Kevin threw his wife completely under the bus as he talked about his divorce and infidelity. Tooooooo Funnnnnnyyy….