Diddy, JAY-Z, Missy Elliott & more perform with Pharrell at Something in the Water festival
The 95-minute set saw the who’s who of hip hop on stage with the legendary music producer.
After being forced to cancel day one due to bad weather, day two of Pharrell Williams’ inaugural Something in the Water festival went on without a hitch in Virginia Beach, VA.
With performances by A$AP Ferg, SZA, Kaytranada, and Travis Scott throughout the day, the spring break crowd in Virginia Beach was hype and ready to see what Pharrell had in store for his “Pharrell and Friends” set Saturday night. With Diddy, Usher, Missy Elliott, and Snoop Dogg previously announced on the bill; the night was action packed with some of hip hop’s most prominent icons shutting down the Oceanfront.
Tyler the Creator, Usher and Fam-Lay all helped kick things off with Pharrell as he ran through some of his classics from the ’90s and ’00s.
Virginia’s own Timbaland performed “The Way I Are” before bringing out another VA native, Missy Elliott, who peformed her classic “Get Ur Freak On.”
“The last time we saw something like this was Greekfest,” Missy said. “Y’all probably weren’t even born. This is huge for VA [Pharrell] made sure he did whatever he had to do to make sure we were all here today.”
Tim and Missy then had a mini Swing Mob/Superfriends reunion when Magoo joined them on stage.
“I haven’t seen my brother in more than like seven years,” said Timbaland. “It’s so great to be back in VA!”
JAY-Z surprised the crowd and confirmed the rumors that spread around the beach throughout the day when he joined Pharrell on stage to perform their 2004 hit “Frontin’.” Just 24 hours after his B-Sides 2 show at Webster Hall in NYC, Hov was still riding on high energy levels when he also performed “Izzo (H.O.V.A.),” “La La La (Excuse Me Again),” “I Just Wanna Love U,” and “Public Service Announcement.”
Diddy gave the crowd a boost of energy when he performed “Mo Money Mo Problems,” and then he turned Something in the Water into a family affair as sons Justin and King Combs danced on stage while he performed the Pharrell-produced song “Finna Get Loose.” Busta Rhymes and Spliff Star then joined Diddy and Pharrell to perform “Pass the Courvoisier.”
Snoop along with Charlie Wilson and Pharrell had a sing-along with the crowd as they performed the classic “Beautiful.” Before Pharrell ended his once in a lifetime all-star hip hop set, he shared a heartfelt moment with the crowd as he explained what the inaugural Something in the Water festival meant to him.
“Look at all this love out here, all this unity, all these colors. This is a love movement,” he said. “I just want y’all to know how hard Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Richmond all worked together to make this happen. Look at what we can do when we come together VA.”
Before closing out with his infectious 2013 hit “Happy,” Pharrell told the crowd, “I ain’t trying to be corny but y’all know how it makes me feel.”
Something in the Water wraps up tonight with performances by D.R.A.M. Leikeli47, Jhené Aiko, Pusha-T, Kap G, Teddy Riley, and Anderson .Paak.