At the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, hip-hop has most certainly reigned supreme.
Rap acts occupied a large swath of real estate in this year’s lineup with Eminem and young voices such as Post Malone, Migos and Tyler, the Creator billed high.
But two weeks of catching sets in the desert confirmed one thing: The future of rap is female.
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Femcees by and large one-upped the boys last weekend, and this weekend it too seemed like the fest would be led by women.
On Friday afternoon the jazz- and funk-soaked hip-hop of Tank and the Bangas moved the intimate Gobi tent in ways main stage acts could only dream of.
The New Orleans collective, led by frontwoman Tarriona “Tank” Ball, shined with a rapturous fusion of spoken word, soul, funk and storytelling.
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Ball is as nimble a lyricist as she is a vocalist, with a malleable voice that’s powerful in its command. One moment she’s unpacking sinewy couplets and rhymes with fury and the next she’s wailing like she’s at a church revival.
As the band navigated through the classic soul grooves, hard hip-hop and stacked jazz arrangements of its debut “Think Tank,” Ball’s vocals provided the compass, even when she stepped aside to ad lib lines as backing vocalists Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph and Kayla Buggage dialed up the sweet harmonies.
Rapper Princess Nokia takes the stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times )
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Princess Nokia, like Tank and the Bangas, resides on the fringe of what’s getting major mainstream attention at the moment.
Fresh off the release of her stellar mixtape “A Girl Cried Red,” the New York rapper is one of the more interesting emcees on this year’s bill, making her showing in the Sonora tent this weekend a must catch (she’s due to play Sunday).
She’s a versatile, imaginative talent with a knack for shape shifting. Last week, she delivered a set that was steeped in East Coast rap, bounce, emo, noise-rap and house that offered a strong counter to the more traditional showmanship from ladies like Kamaiyah and Dej Loaf.
Kamaiyah continues to be a scene stealer with her eclectic and energetic mix of wistful ‘90s-inspired hip-hop and R&B. The Oakland rapper’s charismatic presence makes her a captivating watch, and she’s a far more commanding emcee than a lot of the other club rappers punctuating the bill (watching her over Migos is the best decision you can make).
Cardi B performs on the Coachella Stage during Day 3 of the festival.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times )
However, the weekend’s biggest draw on the rap front was newly minted superstar Cardi B.
Her Coachella showing is the second leg of her ongoing victory lap. She just made history as the first female rapper to have a No. 1 album since Nicki Minaj did in 2014 with her catchy, smartly produced debut “Invasion of Privacy” and her main-stage set last weekend definitely lived up to the hype.
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She came dressed like the late Left Eye from TLC — a nod to a sadly bygone era where scores of female emcees were getting mainstream attention — and tore through a set that paid homage to her stripping days while showing exactly why she’s the year’s star to watch (being heavily pregnant didn’t stop her from twerking during much of her spirited show).
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Sunset over the Coachella festival grounds Saturday.
(Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
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Music fans linger after Beyonce’s performance at Coachella Weekend 2 Saturday.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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During Beyonce’s closing performance, vendors get a reprieve from the crowds and begin their shutdown for the day.
(Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
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Some fans are content to lounge and listen to Beyonce perform from afar.
(Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
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A worker picks up debris, mostly empty water bottles, during Beyonce’s Saturday night closing performance.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans found ample room at the art installations, including the Etherea, during Beyonce’s performance.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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X Japan found an enthusiastic batch of fans at the Mojave Stage despite the fact that Beyonce was closing out the night on the main Coachella Stage Saturday night.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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X Japan performs at Coachella Weekend 2 on Saturday.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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X Japan performs.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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A fan cries during X Japan’s performance at Coachella on Saturday.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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X Japan performs on the Mojave stage concurrently with Beyonce’s performance on the Coachella Stage, both closing out Saturday’s music. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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A fan relaxes on the lawn with her smartphone during Beyonce’s performance at Coachella.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Highly Suspect’s crowd at the Gobi stage had plenty of room to dance as Beyonce performed on the main Coachella Stage.
(Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
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Highly Suspect performs at the Gobi stage Saturday at Coachella during Week 2.
(Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
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Large screens give distant fans a better view of Beyonce as she performs. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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A sea of fans wait for Beyonce’s performance. The crowd extended to the art installations at Coachella Valley Music and Art Festival. (Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans cool down with ice cream during Coachella, Week 2, on Saturday.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Veronica Song from Long Beach dances to Sigrid at the Gobi stage. (Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
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Oh Sees perform. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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A crowd watches Oh Sees perform at Coachella. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Oh Sees on stage.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Brockhampton performs on stage.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans watch Brockhampton perform at Coachella. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Brockhampton performs at Coachella.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans watch Brockhampton perform at Coachella. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Brockhampton fans cheer along at Coachella.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Alexandria Dotson, 29, of Arcadia walks across the grounds at Coachella.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Sudan Archives performs Saturday at Coachella. (Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
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Sudan Archives performs on stage.
(Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
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Sudan Archives plays the violin during her set at Coachella.
(Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
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Crew member Chris Wagganer gazes up at the balloon chain that floats above Coachella.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Jessica Brown, 33, of Oakland rides a seesaw at Coachella.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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British band Django Django performs at Coachella.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Django Django performs at Coachella.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Kyle Ruffner, 23, of Livermore, Calif., cools off in the Do Lab.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Anthony Tolentino, 23, of Costa Mesa hangs out in the Beer Barn at Coachella.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Sisters Amanda Che, 32, of New York City, left, and Carrie Tse, 30, of San Francisco take a selfie in the Beer Barn.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Festivalgoers wave to friends below from inside the “Spectra” art installation.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Yaeji performs inside the Yuma tent at Coachella.
(Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
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Concertgoers go into the Sephora tent to spray their hair with rainbow colors.
(Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
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Two women browse their cellphones in the Rose Garden at Coachella.
(Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans dance to the music at the Do Lab stage.
(Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans pack the Do Lab stage at Coachella.
(Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
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Danielle Cota of Oakland finds her dance groove in the Do Lab.
(Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
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French DJ Busy P performs inside the Yuma tent on his 42nd birthday.
(Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
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Elodie Roy of France dances to Busy P inside the Yuma tent.
(Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
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A festivalgoer poses at Coachella’s record store on Saturday, which was also Record Store Day.
(Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
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Fans find themselves in vinyl heaven at Coachella’s record store next to the Yuma tent.
(Maria Alejandra Cardona / Los Angeles Times)
There’s a reason Chance the Rapper, G-Eazy, YG and Kehlani all came to play with Cardi during Week 1, and that’s because there was far more buzz about her than anyone not named Beyoncé. And that’s quite a feat, given Eminem is closing the festival.
It’s unsurprising that hip-hop dominated this year’s bill, given the genre’s prominence and cultural influence that’s seen institutions like Broadway, the Grammys and the Pulitzer Prizes be disrupted. But with women in the genre having a creative renaissance, it only made sense that a festival bill would reflect that.
Thankfully, Coachella did, and the ladies have more than delivered.
Gerrick D. Kennedy is a former staff writer for the Los Angeles Times. He covered music and pop culture from 2009 to 2019. In 2012, Kennedy was named Emerging Journalist of the Year by the National Assn. of Black Journalists and in 2014 the Advocate featured him in its annual 40 Under 40 list. He is also the author of “Parental Discretion Is Advised: The Rise of N.W.A and the Dawn of Gangsta Rap.”
