GOV BALL NYC 2023

At any given moment during the 3-day Governor’s Ball weekend (June 9-11, 2023) hundreds of people— mostly 20-somethings— exit the 7 Train at Roosevelt Ave. to journey thousands of steps across a rickety wooden bridge, through a beautiful sprawling park (Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, NYC) to end up at the GOV BALL festival grounds.

Day 1

The first act I saw when I arrived Friday was none other than Joey Bada$$, whose 2017 album All-AmeriKKKan Bada$$ truly helped shape and radicalize my own perspective about law enforcement and the violent oppression of black people in this country.

Starting my GOV BALL weekend seeing the Brooklyn-native in NYC was such a surreal moment and an amazing way to kick off the weekend.

He pulled tracks from his whole discography, the standouts being DEVASTATED, Love is Only a Feeling, and newer single Fallin’.

Afterwards I got some Roberto’s Pizza and watched Ice Spice. I wanted to get pics of her but she had probably the biggest crowd of the weekend and I had already walked about 15 miles so I was happy to enjoy my New York pizza and watch the current Queen of New York Rap. 🍕💅🏼✨

Then, I got up close for hip-hop producer Metro Boomin (METRO!), who’s going on an insane run right now. From producing one of the biggest rap albums of the year, Heroes & Villains, to one of the biggest movie soundtracks of all time for Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse.

Metro played some of his classics featuring 21 Savage and Future as well as some tracks from his new album.

Unfortunately, it started raining and my first instinct was to protect my camera so I left during Metro’s set to head back to my Airbnb in Queens.

Day 2

My second day of the festival started with a stop in Manhattan to see the city and get some lunch, then I was onward to the GOV BALL.

The first act I saw was Rina Sawayama, whose music I was vaguely familiar with. She put on a great show with multiple outfit changes, set pieces, and back up dancers, as well as spoke intimately with the crowd about her music and the inspiration for it.

Then, I hit some Activations with some friends. The most memorable were the Red Bull and Dunkin Donuts activations. The Red Bull activation was designed to look like an intersection in Brooklyn with bodega storefronts, and it was basically a party with a DJ. The Dunkin Donuts was a small clear pink & orange building where they had free donuts.

Next up, I went to see Lil Baby who, by my surprise, had backup dancers and actually gave a really energetic performance. The most memorable song he performed had to be Drip Too Hard.

After Lil Baby I finished the night watching Odesza with some friends. It's not my kind of music, so I didn't care to take pics, but they put on a dope show with some intense visuals.

Day 3

The last day was my longest and jam-packed with concerts. My feet and legs were feeling the approximately 30 miles walked at this point and I was tired but I thought to myself, "I came on this trip for one reason, to capture A-List artists in my camera, so that's that what I'm going to do."

On this day I attended and photographed Pusha T, PinkPantheress, Giveon, and Kendrick Lamar, who brought out Baby Keem.

King Push had a hilariously cool "Snow"globe set piece. I swear PinkPantheress looked right at me. Giveon performed alongside live instruments.

Kendrick Lamar performed a bunch of Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, DAMN, and he brought out Baby Keem, which all made for an extremely memorable show.