Chance The Rapper, Diana Ross among ESSENCE Fest headliners

Grammy-winning artist Chance The Rapper will join Diana Ross, Mary J. Blige, John Legend and others as a headliner of Time Inc.’s ESSENCE Festival presented by Coca-Cola, taking place June 30th through July 2nd in New Orleans, Louisiana.

After recently making history as the first streaming-only artist to win multiple Grammys in top categories such as Best Rap Album and Best New Artist, Chance The Rapper will make his ESSENCE Festival debut and round out the full performance lineup for the festival concert series of more than 40 acts, including new additions: No Limit Records’ Mystikal, Mia X and Silkk; BJ the Chicago Kid; Daley; Elle Varner; Emily Estefan; Gallant; Kelly Price; Leela James; and Rhonda Ross.

The full weekend concert lineup is as follows:

2017 Mainstage Artists

Diana Ross, Mary J. Blige, Chance The Rapper, John Legend, Ari Lennox, Chaka Khan, India.Arie, Jazmine Sullivan, Jill Scott, Master P, No Limit Records’ Mystikal, Mia X and Silkk, Monica, Rhonda Ross, Solange and Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue.

2017 Superlounge Artists

BJ the Chicago Kid, Daley, Doug E. Fresh, Elle Varner, Emily Estefan, Gallant, Jhené Aiko, June’s Diary, Kelly Price, Lalah Hathaway, Leela James, Lizzo, Michel’le, Moses Sumney, PJ, Sir the Baptist, Remy Ma, Ro James, Shaggy, Teyana Taylor, The Jones Girls Featuring Shirley Jones, Tweet, Yuna

Weekend ticket packages are on sale now with prices starting at $126 at essencefestival.com.

The 2017 ESSENCE Festival is presented by Coca-Cola and sponsored by Ford, State Farm and Walmart.

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com