Roots Picnic 2013 [Photos + Recap]

Photos by Seher Sikandar

So...Roots Picnic 2013 happened yesterday. Which is to say: the sun blazed, The Roots played, Naughty By Nature reunited on stage, Macklemore walked across the crowd, Solange sang a sublime Dirty Projectors cover and then got in an epic supersoaker fight backstage. Trinidad James played hoops, made the crowd go nuts with "All Gold Everything" and then clowned around with Joey Bada$$ and Robert Glasper. A-Trak turned "Diplo-tent" into a home, Gary Clark Jr. played the pluck out of his guitar and Meek Mill devoured the mic in a surprise end-of the night guest set for the hometown crowd of Philly fanatics and hipsters who descended on Morgan's Pier from Brooklyn and all abouts (we gave some of them rides; those kids are alright).

Fans were made, work was put in, pianos were smashed. Beer got drank, chicken got jerked. Cheese was macked. Greens; collared. We could not have asked for a bluer sky or a hotter summer day on which to enjoy whatever breeze Philly's festival pier had to offer, and it was packed with young beautiful people, a few old beautiful people, a pack of cute-ass little kids and even a few kittens (more on that later--MUCH more). It's almost hard to give you the highlights because almost every set was a highlight and there were so many beautiful Roots Picnic moments happening every time you turned around that you could assemble as many highlights reels as there were people in the capacity crowd. But a few highlights would have to include: Solange leading the crowd in a slow grind session on "Locked In Closets"; How To Dress Well's R. Kelly/Ready For The World medley "Ready For The World"--which has a special relationship with Philly--and Gaslamp Killer's whole set. A few moments were so amazing and unforgettable that they can't even be put into words. The only way to do them justice was to commit them to photo and video and share them with you--that we did and will do. Take the few pics from Okaplayer's designated photog Seher Sikandar and look for more galleries to come from Mel D. Cole and Terrence Jennings. We'll be adding many more photos in the hours and days to come, as well as unveiling our live and behind the scenes recap videos. We don't want to give too much away, but...when you some of the crazy shit we caught on camera, well, you will never forget it, trust.