Three of Cash Money's four Hot Boys were at the 2024 Essence Fest. Only two reunited.

The Cash Money Records reunion on the 2024 Essence Festival of Culture’s opening night was both more and less than anticipated.

More because the nearly two-hour showcase at the Caesars Superdome late Friday included several rappers who are not technically part of the Cash Money stable.

And less because the hoped-for reunion of Cash Money’s all-star Hot Boys involved only two of its four members, Juvenile and B.G.

A third Hot Boy, Lil Wayne, the biggest star of them all, was present Friday. But in a clear sign that the divisions that have long bedeviled the Cash Money camp still exist, Wayne did not interact onstage with his former labelmates, including his fellow Hot Boys.

He even separated himself backstage: he was nowhere to be found in the crowded, communal hospitality area occupied by the other Cash Money artists.

Instead, he delivered his own 20-minute solo show-within-a-show starting at 1:30 a.m. The Cash Money logos on the stage screens disappeared, replaced by the logo for Wayne’s Young Money Entertainment.

Young Money originated as a Cash Money subsidiary but is now a separate entity — much like Wayne himself.

The Roots of country

Opening night of the 30th anniversary Essence Fest revealed a retooled configuration. The stage is on the opposite side of the Superdome as it was last year. A large swath at the back of the floor area is now taken up by a standing-room-only VIP section.

One particular VIP, or VP, made a surprise appearance following rapper Busta Rhymes: Vice President Kamala Harris, who was scheduled to give a talk during a daytime Essence event at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on Saturday.

Friday’s crowd was substantial, but swaths of the Dome’s upper level, as well as seats at the fringes of the floor, were empty. A torrential downpour just as folks were heading to the Dome likely hurt walk-up ticket sales.

The long, eclectic night of music very much reflected the aesthetic of the new regime that took over Essence Ventures, the festival’s parent company, in 2020.

The Roots, the Philadelphia hip-hop crew that is the house band for “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” presided over a revue with three different guests. Throughout, Roots drummer Questlove wore a Prince & the Revolution T-shirt; in this 30th anniversary Essence year, it might have been a subtle acknowledgment that Prince performed for the event's 10th and 20th anniversary celebrations.

The Roots backed Mickey Guyton, the only Black female artist nominated for a best country solo performance Grammy, for four songs. Guyton teared up before “Black Like Me.” “I work so hard to show that country music came from Black people,” she said, alluding to pioneering traditional musicians.

R&B and neo-soul singer Ari Lennox caressed “Shea Butter Baby." Roots rapper Black Thought filled in for J. Cole, who is featured on the song’s recorded version.

T-Pain’s turn with the Roots included “Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin’”). The squalling guitar solo by “Captain” Kirk Douglas that concluded the Roots set inspired the stage sign language interpreter to air-guitar.

By the time Raphael Saadiq, who anchored both Tony! Toni! Toné! and Lucy Pearl and now helps other artists craft hits, concluded his set of particularly literate R&B, the night was running well behind schedule.

Cash Money and friends

At midnight, former New Orleans mayor Marc Morial, sporting a blinged-out new pair of red sneakers, strode onstage to present a National Urban League proclamation to a Cash Money delegation led by Ronald “Suga Slim” Williams, the non-performing half of the Williams brothers duo that co-founded Cash Money Records (and that had a Central City street corner renamed for them this week).

Mannie Fresh, the producer behind the label's classic 1990s and early 2000s output, kicked off the show with a live ensemble drawn partly from Juvenile’s touring band. Fresh and Cash Money co-founder Bryan “Birdman” “Baby” Williams fired up a few gems from their Big Tymers collaboration. “#1 Stunna” served as their statement of purpose. The swaggering “Big Ballin’” rolled into “Get Your Roll On,” all of it enlivened by live drums, bass, guitar and keyboards.

The energy level surged even higher as Christopher “B.G.” Dorsey reintroduced himself with “All On U.” That track from his 1996 debut album “Chopper City,” like the subsequent “Uptown Thang,” depicts the underbelly of an Uptown rife with guns, drugs and violence.

Back then, Dorsey rapped what he knew. He was released from federal prison in September after serving 12 years on gun and obstruction of justice charges. Essence, then, was his big New Orleans homecoming, and he was greeted like a returning hero.

“Don’t Talk to Me,” like “All On U” and “Uptown Thang,” was a warning to the protagonist’s enemies, delivered with a smile by a guy clearly thrilled to be back on stage.

Up to that point, the Cash Money showcase couldn’t have gone much better. But then Mannie Fresh announced some “friends of the Cash Money family.” Momentum was lost during a drop-in by the trio The Lox, which took part in a joint Cash Money / Ruff Ryders arena tour back in 2000.

Bun B of UGK — who guested on “Chopper City” nearly 30 years ago — fared better. Scarface, from Houston’s Geto Boys, started slow but regained some ground with “Mind Playing Tricks On Me.” 2 Chainz served up “Birthday Song” and “I’m Different.”

All of which was fine, but it was not what all those attendees in Cash Money T-shirts came to hear. The show got back on track at 1 a.m. with Cash Money crowd-pleaser Juvenile and his “Solja Rag.” “Set It Off” lived up to its name. With faux cash littering the stage, the band affixed an undulating rhythm to “400 Degreez.”

B.G. joined Juvenile for half of a Hot Boys reunion. Turk, the fourth Hot Boy, posted recently on social media that he wanted to participate, but certain “business” issues might prevent it. He and Bryan "Birdman" Williams apparently could not resolve those issues.

So Juvenile, B.G., Birdman and Fresh delivered “I Need a Hot Girl” and “Bling Bling” without Turk. For “Project Bitch,” they skipped Lil Wayne’s verse from the recorded version.

B.G. stuck around to back Juvenile on “Slow Motion” as a photo of the late Soulja Slim, Juvenile’s partner on the recording, appeared onscreen. Following Juvenile’s “Back That Azz Up” — in his estimation, the “greatest love song ever written” — he plugged his Sunday afternoon Donna Color Explosion concert at Urban South Brewery, then disappeared.

It was now 1:30 a.m. Just as many people contemplated heading for the exits, Lil Wayne made his surprise entrance with the aptly named “Uproar.”

“My name is Tunechi,” he announced, using one of his aliases, and adding that he was there on behalf of Young Money Records.

Not Cash Money, mind you. Young Money.

Around his standard “give yourselves a hand” stage schtick, he sampled such favorites as “Lollipop” and “Mrs. Officer.” Members of his Young Money crew joined him for “Every Girl.” He concluded with “A Milli” and hustled offstage before Birdman, Fresh and B.G. returned for the Big Tymers’ “Still Fly.”

Birdman related his enduring love for his late mother, Gladys Brooks, to the decades he’s spent making music. “Every day I did this .... it was painful for me, because I lost Ms. Gladys as a youngster and I never recovered from that,” he said just shy of 2 a.m. He added that he “was just trying to bless” a young person who was headed in the direction he was.

“I swear to God on everything I love, and I love nothing more than Ms. Gladys, I would never let my city down."

He followed that up with an expletive-laden rant with unclear intention.

It was a curious farewell for a Cash Money reunion that was fun, but could have been so much more.