Essence Music Festival 2010
As thousands of gallons of BP's crude oil continued to dump into the Gulf of Mexico and a blistering heat wave crept across the Eastern American seaboard over the long Fourth of July weekend, the Essence Music Festival played on. Nothing can stop the New Orleans institution and America's largest celebration of contemporary African American music and culture since 1995 -- not even Katrina in 2006, which had the festival relocated to nearby Houston, Texas for the year.
This year went off without a glitch -- aside from a preggers Alicia Keys taking a little spill during her performance of 'Love Is Blind' off her new album, 'Element of Freedom.' (Both Keys and baby are fine.) The three-day festival also marked the first time headliner Janet Jackson took to its stage and was rounded out by performances from Mary J. Blige, Monica, Estelle, LL Cool J and Trey Songz, among others. Just when you thought things couldn't get hotter in NOLA, R&B turned up the heat index. Check out photos from the 2010 Essence Music Festival after the jump.
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