Kendrick Lamar to Play a ‘Very Special Set’ at Jay-Z’s Made in America Festival

By Jem Aswad

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Kendrick Lamar has been added to the already stacked lineup of Jay-Z’s annual   festival, which takes place on Philadelphia’s Ben Franklin Parkway over Labor Day Weekend, Sept. 1-2. No details were provided except an announcement stating that the festival will include a “very special set by” the Pulitzer Prize-winning MC, who was Variety’s Hitmaker of the Year in 2017.

Lamar joins a packed lineup that already features headliners Nicki Minaj and Post Malone along with Meek Mill, Diplo, Zedd, Tekashi 6ix9ine, Pusha T, Miguel, Janelle Monáe, Alessia Cara, Fat Joe, Daniel Caesar, 6lack, Belly, Ty Dolla $ign, Rich The Kid, Sabrina Claudio, Jessie Reyez, Louis The Child, Tchami, Lil B, Gunna, Cashmere Cat, Snakehips, Juice WRLD, BlocBoy JB, SOB x RBE, Sheck Wes, SAINt JHN, Jay Park, Lil Skies, Saweetie, A$AP Twelvyy, Jai Wolf, TOKiMONSTA, Preme, White Reaper, Clairo, Show Me The Body, Code Orange, Turnstile, Saba, Anna Lunoe, Driver Era, Bloodpop, Injury Reserve, Hobo Johnson & The LoveMakers, Davido, Shoreline Mafia, Elohim, Petal, Kweku Collins, Odie, Maxo Kream, Lost Kings, Armani White, Amara La Negra, Buzzy Lee, Mir Fontane, Trouble, JPEGMAFIA, Tyla Yaweh, City Morgue, Louis Futon, Lophiile, Wicca Phase Springs Eternal, Orion Sun and Zahsosaa.

Last month the festival found itself embroiled in an unexpected controversy over its 2019 edition, which a rep for the Philadelphia mayor’s office said could not take place on the Parkway, its site for all seven previous years. But after a  six-day standoff that saw heated words flying  between Jay-Z and the Philadelphia mayor’s office, the two sides  came to an agreement  that will see the festival remaining on the Parkway for the next “several” years, according to Desiree Perez, COO of Jay’s Roc Nation.