While Midtown Atlanta was all abuzz for the taping of the BET Hip-Hop Awards, the grown and sexy crowd was in Buckhead at Chastain Park Amphitheater on Saturday, Oct. 2. Opening acts for the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul’s tour were Miguel and Jazmine Sullivan; and neither act could hold the anxious MJB-loving crowd’s attention for long.
Jazmine opened her performance wearing a fedora and a trench coat. When the lights came up, she revealed her new slimmer physique and underneath her cloak, she was dressed in a black broad-shouldered, fitted jumpsuit. She let the girls come out to play as she revealed quite a bit of cleavage. Jazmine belted through hits like “Bust the Window,” “Circles” and even threw in BBD’s “Poison” and SWV’s “Weak” to ensure audience engagement before thanking fans for helping her debut album, Fearless, reach “gold.”
Grammy Award-winning singer Mary J. Blige brought down the house. She was donned in what looked like a black wetsuit. No pun intended; it was quite couture. Mary didn’t disappoint as she sung so many of her hits, that it made audience members say, “Oh yeah, I forgot about that song.”
An all-around diva and a humble performer to say the least, Mary offered a testimony halfway through her show and shared with fans: “God used music to save my life.” Then she went on to tell the story of how her family was poor when she was growing up in Yonkers, N.Y., before going into her hit, “Love is All We Need.”
Fans were beginning to wind down and then Mary broke out with her female anthem, “Just Fine.” The stiletto-clad sisters couldn’t resist and the partying didn’t stop until Chastain’s curfew arrived. –yvette caslin
