The NBA has already announced some of the entertainment that fans will get to see at All-Star Weekend in Chicago. Chicago natives Common and Chance the Rapper will, respectively, perform before the game and at halftime of Sunday’s All-Star Game (along with captaining the Celebrity Game teams), while Taylor Bennett, Chance’s brother, will do the halftime show of Friday’s Rising Stars game.
As it turns out, there will be a whole lot more music in store during the weekend, as the league announced its full list of performers for the various events on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The biggest names will perform throughout Sunday evening, as Chance will be joined at halftime by Lil Wayne, DJ Khaled, and Quavo. Common will address the crowd prior to the game with a narrative about basketball and Chicago, Chicago’s own Chaka Khan will perform the national anthem, and Tenille Arts will sing “O Canada.”
The league also announced that Jennifer Hudson will perform prior to player introductions, as she will do a tribute to Kobe Bryant, Gianna Bryant, and the seven others that tragically died in a helicopter crash last month.
Damian Lillard, the best MC in the league, was scheduled to perform on Saturday night, but his performance was cancelled after he suffered a groin strain on Wednesday that forced him to pull out of the three-point contest and the All-Star Game. Saturday will feature Queen Latifah performing Stevie Wonder’s “Love’s in Need of Love Today.” with youth from Chicago. The city will also be represented prior to the Rising Stars game when the Chicago Children’s Choir sings “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
All-Star Weekend is, of course, a chance to highlight the best basketball players in the world, but the league also likes to use it as a chance to celebrate music and the city where everything’s happening. With this collection of artists on the bill, that will certainly happen in Chicago.
