Today in Tha Wire, the 2018 Essence Music Festival in New Orleans is officially over. Their still tallying the numbers, but officials are hoping that this years festival was their biggest ever. New Orleans has always been THE U.S. city to visit. However, the movie Girls Trip gave the famous city an extra tourist boost. So the fact that Essence had the movies Hip Hop royalty on this years MAIN STAGE, just kept the excitement going. Saturday July 7, Queen Latifah closed out the night with her "Ladies First" set featuring, Missy Elliott, Remy Ma, MC Lyte, Nikki D and More!

Then other mega stars like Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige, the return of Xscape, Snoop Dogg, Ledisi, Miguel, The Roots, Jill Scott, and Erykah Badu, Teddy Riley and his New Jack Swing tribute with special guests, SWV, Blackstreet, Guy, Doug E Fresh, and more all rocking the MAIN STAGE. It was an amazing weekend of entertainment which also included NOLA bounce legend Big Freedia, as well as new super talents like Daniel Caesar, Ella Mae, Ro James, H.E.R and so many others.

I can certainly see this years attendance being the biggest to date. By the way, Essence Fest is so much more than a Party With A Purpose for New Orleans. It's made a HUGE economic impact on the Cresent City. Though it's been several years, the Big Easy is still trying to recover from the unspeakable devastation Katrina left behind. The cities first ever female, an African American at that, Mayor LaToya Cantrell, spoke on the what a difference Essence has made for New Orleans.

NOLA.com reports Mayor Cantrell said the festival has played a major role in the cities annual tourist revenue.

For the past 24-years Essence has consistently raised the bar, when it comes to event attendance in a single weekend. The music fest seen record numbers during it's 20th Anniversary in 2014. That year also marked one of the last live performances by Prince, with a reported 550,000 tickets sold over the course of the 4-day festival. In 2015 another 500,000 fans converged on the famous city, followed by 450,000 in 2016, and 470,000 in 2017.

I know what thing, I'm ready for 2019! Can't wait for the line-up. By the way Essence, I would like to make two suggestions Drake, and Chris Brown.  PLEASE!!! All right fam, below enjoy a few pics and video's from Essence 2018 below.

2018 Essence Festival Presented By Coca-Cola - Louisiana Superdome - Day 3
Tank - Getty Images for Essence
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2018 Essence Festival Presented By Coca-Cola - Louisiana Superdome - Day 3
Getty Images for Essence
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2018 Essence Festival Presented By Coca-Cola - Louisiana Superdome - Day 3
Getty Images for Essence
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2018 Essence Festival Presented By Coca-Cola - Louisiana Superdome - Day 3
Getty Images for Essence
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2018 Essence Festival Presented By Coca-Cola - Louisiana Superdome - Day 3
Getty Images for Essence
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2018 Essence Festival Presented By Coca-Cola - Louisiana Superdome - Day 3
Getty Images for Essence
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