It’s still hard to process that the Lovers & Friends festival exists, let alone that a second edition is approaching. On May 6, the hip-hop and R&B throwback event of the season will return to the Las Vegas Festival Grounds, bringing 40-plus acts from the ’90s and early 2000s along with it.

Those lucky enough to score tickets to the sold-out event will get to see icons like Missy Elliott, Mariah Carey, Usher, Busta Rhymes and 50 Cent, along with a stacked undercard featuring the likes of Omarion, Da Brat, Lil Kim, Jojo and more. Here’s what we’re most excited to catch.

Can’t-Miss Missy

Few humans have rewritten the rules of hip-hop like Missy Elliott. The generational talent defined a decade with her anomalous soundscapes, linking up with producer Timbaland on “Get Ur Freak On,” “Work It” and other genre-bending classics. For the past 30 years, Elliott has established herself as an author of eccentric expression, be it through oddball fashion or her outlandish music videos, which still hold up today.

The Virginia pioneer blazed a trail for Black female artists and created space for the sex-positive, body-confident women we see in the mainstream today. Artists who so boldly disrupt, destabilize and define an industry should be celebrated, especially considering Elliott hasn’t been a consistent live presence throughout her career. She went on a seven-year musical hiatus following 2005’s The Cookbook, and we now know that her battle with Graves’ disease significantly affected her ability to write and perform.

Since returning to the spotlight, she has released a handful of new tracks, adding to her status as one of the top-selling female rappers of all time. Elliott’s Lovers & Friends debut will mark her first non-nightclub Las Vegas performance since 2004, when she shared a bill with Beyoncé and Alicia Keys at Mandalay Bay Events Center. If there’s any Lovers & Friends artist who deserves a warm welcome, it’s Missy.

Southern Rap Takeover

Nelly’s 2000 debut album, Country Grammar, heralded the start of a Dirty South decade. The St. Louis rapper arrived on the scene with a Missouri twang (and Southern slang) that set him apart from other artists at the time. Chingy joins Nelly as a St. Louis rap protege whose Ludacris- and Snoop Dogg-backed “Holidae In” peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2003—and remains one the best free ads for a hotel chain ever. Representing for the Atlanta region is trap pioneer T.I., “It’s Goin’ Down” rapper Yung Joc, and Dem Franchize Boyz, whose “Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It” snap dance went viral way before any dance videos on TikTok took off. “Freak-A-Leek” performer Petey Pablo held down the scene in North Carolina, while “Still Fly” star Mannie Fresh and the legendary Master P helped establish New Orleans as a Southern hip-hop stronghold. It’ll be amazing to hear these regions united.

Residency Reunions

Dreamed of experiencing a Las Vegas residency? You should get your fill at Lovers & Friends, which will present several acts who have held down extended runs on the Strip. In 2019, Christina Aguilera memorialized her 24-year pop legacy with The Xperience at Planet Hollywood’s Zappos Theater (now Bakkt Theater), a galactic-themed spectacle that would have been extended through November 2020 had it not been for the pandemic. “Mister Worldwide” Pitbull has brought several installments of his Time of Our Lives residency to the same room, and Mariah Carey has starred in not one but two Caesars Palace engagements. Perhaps most interesting is Usher, the R&B sensation who has also headlined two Strip residencies (one of which still runs at Park MGM) and an only-in-Vegas exclusive backstage show. Usher won’t have Lil Jon and Ludacris alongside him this year as he did in 2022, but he’s more than capable of holding down a fest on his own.

The Harmonizers

Their music has been the fuel behind late-night karaoke nights, wedding dances and countless romantic films. They’re ’90s R&B groups, and Lovers & Friends has plenty of them. Known for swaying ballads like “End of the Road” and “I’ll Make Love to You,” Boyz II Men return to Las Vegas following a long-running residency at the Mirage. The Motown trio left a lasting impression on pop and R&B, and they’re in good company on this lineup with the likes of Blackstreet, the group behind “No Diggity,” and En Vogue, famous for empowering hits like “My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)” and “Hold On,” one of the greatest of all ’90s R&B songs. Local group 702, known for their Missy Elliott-produced single “Where My Girls At,” are also set to play, so save some extra applause for your homegirls.

The New Edition

Summer Walker. Jhené Aiko. PartyNextDoor. Bryson Tiller. Wait, isn’t this a throwback festival? These acts might have looked more at home on the poster for Las Vegas’ modern hip-hop festival Day N Vegas, but since that event was canceled last year and didn’t return in 2023, Lovers & Friends has stepped in to present next-generation R&B artists rubbing elbows with icons who blazed the trail. These acts cite Mary J. Blige, Brandy, Boyz II Men, Usher, Blackstreet, Jodeci and others as musical inspirations, so to play this fest alongside those sorts of legends in the flesh must feel like a dream. It should be for those of us watching them perform, too.

Lovers & Friends May 6, 11 a.m.-midnight. Las Vegas Festival Grounds, loversandfriendsfest.com.

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