GloRilla stakes her claim for hip-hop crown with fiery Beale Street Music Festival set

During the last Beale Street Music Festival in 2022, GloRilla was a largely unknown underground rapper, with a couple little-noted mixtapes/EPs, who has just released her first significant single, “F.N.F. (Let’s Go).”

What a difference a year makes.

On Saturday night, GloRilla took the music fest stage as a bona fide star and hometown hero. The 23-year-old’s fast rise over the last 12 months has resulted in a Grammy nomination, a BET award win, a significant signing to Yo Gotti’s CMG label, as well as a top 10 pop hit and a couple gold singles.

GloRilla’s performance at Tom Lee Park was the latest in a series of triumphant turns for Bluff City hip-hoppers at music fest, following Moneybagg Yo’s 2022 performance in the wake of his chart-topping triumph, “A Gangsta’s Pain.”

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On a day when the concept of coronation was in the news — thanks to the ascent of King Charles in England — GloRilla staked her claim to the local hip-hop crown, with a fiery 40-minute performance on the Bud Light Stage.

GloRilla acknowledged that due to a busy touring and performing schedule, she had not made a proper local appearance since last summer’s guest slot during the Yo Gotti Birthday Bash.

“Y’all, this is my first show out here since I blew up,” she said. “It feels good to be home."

Performing in the shadow of a giant inflatable gorilla on stage — which towered above the crowd — Big Glo, as she’s known, delivered a fast-paced and energetic run through her songs, aided by a troupe of dancers and a DJ.

She opened with “Blessed” and then worked through a series of hard-edged songs, including “Internet Trolls” and “Unh Unh,” before slowing things down for the relatively ruminative “Out Loud Thinking.” “I know I do that gangsta s***, but gangstas got feelings too,” she said.

The crowd — packing out most of the middle of Tom Lee Park — was loud and enthusiastic, validating GloRilla’s moment on the big stage and in the big leagues. As the female leader of the current Memphis hip-hop renaissance, she took a moment to reflect on her progression in the male-dominated rap game.

“For the longest time, they didn’t want to let us in the industry,” she said, “But we had to kick that door down.”

Prior to Big Glo’s performance, the crowd at the Bud Light stage got an opportunity to see another up-and-coming talent in rapper Finesse2Tymes, aka Ricky Hampton. The Memphis native, who now resides in Houston, has been on the brink of success for years, going back to his time as part of a local collective with Moneybagg Yo and Blac Youngsta.

The 30-year old’s career has been interrupted by a couple stretches in prison, including a federal firearms conviction, which had him locked up for four years, prior to his release last summer.

Since gaining his freedom, Finesse2Tymes has enjoyed a high-profile run, with the success of his single “Back End,” which spent several weeks on the Billboard Top 100 charts, and the release of his mixtape “90 Days Later.”

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The Bread Gang/Mob Ties/Atlantic Records artist has been hailed as a star in the making, earning numerous plaudits, including picks as Apple Music’s “Hip-Hop Artist to Watch” and an Amazon “Breakthrough Artist,” as well as making Spotify’s list of “Most Necessary” artists.

His Saturday evening appearance at music fest offered the highest-profile stage in his hometown, and he made good use of the opportunity, putting on a memorable if occasionally chaotic show.

Finesse2Tymes was joined onstage by a small army of compatriots, making for a group roughly the size of the Mississippi Mass Choir. Most notable was his mini-me, child rapper Lil King, who stole the show — or at least large chunks of it — rapping along with 2Tymes.

Though he ceded the stage to King and several other friends and collaborators who all took turns at the mic, 2Tymes acquitted himself well during his featured moments. Much as with GloRilla there was a sense of celebration in his set, a clear feeling of homecoming for a pair of rising Bluff City hip-hop stars.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: GloRilla stakes claim for hip-hop crown at Beale Street Music Festival