Brandy and More @ The Global Fusion Festival.
Text by Sofiya Ballin and Niesha Miller. Images by Peter Ford.
Hundreds of people crowded around the Great Plaza at Penn’s Landing Saturday for the 6th annual Global Fusion Festival, dedicated to bringing forth multicultural vendors and activities for children.
The festivities included performances by local Philly artist Cody Kahmar (above) and headliners such as Brandy (right), Kendrick Lamar, Elle Varner, and Kenny Lattimore. Anticipation was in the air along with the smell of fried foods and the bustle to purchase clothing and hand-crafted cultural jewelry from local artisans.
The free concert was fairly calm and mellow after Cody Kahmar ended his set with “Hear My Call.” Luke James wooed the ladies with his hit single “I Want You,” bringing one young lady on stage and giving her with a rose.
“It’s definitely important for me to maintain a certain amount of class,” James said afterward. “I don’t want to be too raunchy on stage.”
Later, people rushed to the stage after the announcement of Kendrick Lamar’s performance. The appreciation for the Black Hippy movement that he spearheads was evident in the number of hands and heads bobbing to his music.
“Black Hippy,” Lamar said. “That’s what it represents. Being yourself, going after what you want to do and not being a follower.”
The crowd stayed for Elle Varner (right). Before she hit the stage the crowd started lip-syncing to “EV” from her Conversational Lush mixtape. “This is the liveliest crowd I’ve ever performed for,” she gushed after performing the song.
There was a shift in demographic after the onstage Soul Train dance line and when Kenny Lattimore graced the stage. Middle-aged women screamed and cheered while a few young ladies swooned over the older man they were too young to know.
“I don’t know who he is but he’s fine!” yelled an onlooker.
Lattimore’s coming back with a new album Back 2 Cool, on September 18th.
“R&B is being re-discovered right now and this new album should be a game changer,” he says. “I minister to the hearts of women and the minds of men.”
The moment everyone was waiting for was about to arrive. The crowd got relatively thicker and you could see people leaning over the VIP box. After cheers and chants, Brandy skipped onto the stage going right into “Full Moon,” keeping up with her back-up dancers. She took a moment to tell the audience how much their love meant to her, and she ended her set with her new single “Put It Down” featuring Chris Brown and “The Boy Is Mine” featuring Monica. This performance will prep fans for the release of her new album Two Eleven due October 12,2012.
Celebrities like Tisha Campbell-Martin, Terry Crews, Kyla Pratt, Lil Mama, A.J. Calloway and others were in attendance, showing support for Global Fusion. Here’s what a few folks told us:
Lil Mama (right)
“I love my Philly bouls! I love Philly it’s the city of brotherly love. Men and women here, they’re cut from a different cloth, the way they hold themselves…the respect they have for themselves.”
Luke James
“Performing for Philly is tough! It’s a tough crowd out here. You got to sweat for ‘em, it’s like watching a very suspenseful movie. You don’t want to run with the person in the movie. You want to watch them jump across the building or whatever. I get that. They just want to hear me. Once they know me they can react differently.”
Cody Kahmar
“It’s crazy! Everything has just been getting better and better.”
Brandy (on her new album Two Eleven)
“This album represents a culmination of the last couple of years and a celebration of my life, it’s me coming into my own as a woman…and it’s sexy too!”
Kenny Lattimore
- Kendrick Lamar
JUMP: The Philly Music Project 
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