// Photo by Harry George

Pink Siifu is not known for hogging the spotlight. He collaborated with other artists on 16 of 18 songs on his newest album, GUMBO’!, and some songs on the album feature as many as eight artists. Given this impulse, it’s not surprising that, on Sunday, Siifu seemed to crowd as many people onto a stage as he could find. Over the course of his set, I counted 11 people on stage: Siifu, Turich Benjy, V.C.R., Misfit Singer, Corey Fonville, Peso Gordon, VonBeezy Bugatti, JayBee Lamahj, Awhlee, Marcus Tenney, and DJ Harrison. These artists accompanied Siifu live on drums and piano, rapped alongside the artist, and provided background singing and beat manipulation throughout the performance. Among the performers, V.C.R. stood out as one of the most multitalented. The singer alternated between stunning the audience with undulating riffs, taking center stage to sing duets with Pink Siifu, and pulling out her violin to provide beautiful countermelodies to Siifu’s beats. Drummer Corey Fonville also stood out, providing ever-changing rhythms to counterbalance the rhythms of Siifu’s lyrical delivery. It’s also always a treat to see Turich Benjy, Siifu’s high school best friend and longtime collaborator, dance with Pink Siifu as they rap together.

// Photo by Harry George

As many people were on stage with Pink Siifu, even more stood on the side of the stage, dancing and singing along with the artist — his wife was in the front of the side crowd, mouthing along to every lyric. In fact, given that this was the first performance of the day, the people on the stage seemed to almost outnumber the people in the audience.

// Photo by Harry George

Throughout the festival, the side stage was filled with guests of the artists. In many case, these guests were the other artists performing at the festival. It was amazing to see so many performers supporting each other offstage: KAINA staring lovingly at fellow Chicago-born artist Noname, Noname and her band singing along to Earl Sweatshirt, Tirzah rocking out to Toro y Moi. And throughout the day, Siifu and his entourage barely seemed to miss a performance. I talked to Siifu at the very end of the day. “Stay with us,” he told me. “We are a family.”

// Kaia Batsheva ’23 is a DJ and writer for Record Hospital.