Made In America Day One: Jamie XX, Jay Electronica, Car Seat Headrest and more

Jay Electronica at Made in America | photo by Cameron Pollack for WXPN

If you love hip-hop, if you love R&B, and if you want to sprinkle some local flair in between, this year’s Made in America festival is for you.

The first day of the two-day extravaganza on the Ben Franklin Parkway was packed with huge names; Rihanna closed off the day with a set that was nothing short of legendary, but amazing sets went down right from the beginning of the day all the way to closing; Symone and C-Kan opened up two of the smaller stages with powerhouse vocals and Spanish flows to rival the American ones of Eminem and Kendrick.

Lil Uzi Vert, a hometown hero, spent a huge portion of his set nowhere near the stage, preferring to party with fans all the way down to the other end of Eakins Oval. SZA cooled the Rocky Stage down with some incredible soul, while wearing an outfit for the history books, pictured below.

XPN fave Car Seat Headrest rocked loyal fans at the Tidal Stage, while simultaneously at the Liberty Stage, A$AP Ferg was keeping Uzi Vert’s fans busy with a spiritual and aggressive set that, to me, looked nothing short of exhausting.

Moving into the golden hour Bryson Tiller brought crowds running back to the Art Museum steps with a synthesis of crooning and rapping that had the crowd shaking. Jay Electronica stepped up to the plate next, spending an immense part of the set rapping over Dilla beats in the crowd, and then causing total mayhem as he invited dozens of crowd members on stage with him.

Collegrove, a collaboration between 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne, proved to be a highlight of the evening; the set was high energy almost to a fault, and thus sent fans tumbling over the barricades. It featured highlights from both 2 Chainz and Wayne’s repertoires, including “A Milli,” “Lollipop,” Chance The Rapper’s “No Problem” (sans Chance, sadly), and more.

As Into It. Over It. played a set of emo-infused rock on the skate stage  Jamie xx wrapped up the antics at the Liberty stage, giving both indietronica lovers, dancehall enthusiasts, and bassheads something to talk about.

Look out today on the live stream for sets from Aaron West, FKA Twigs, Coldplay, Lil Yachty, Chance the Rapper, and more!