While Hamilton puts some country and soul spins to his rendition of 'The Star-Spangled Banner', the rapper belts out a medley of his hits including 'Middle Child' and 'ATM'.
- Feb 18, 2019
AceShowbiz - The 2019 NBA All-Star Game took place at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina on Sunday, February 17, with a slew of musicians taking the field to entertain both the players and audience. Among them was Anthony Hamilton, who successfully delivered the national anthem before the game kicked off.
Rocking a shiny gold suit coat, the 17-time Grammy nominee put some country and soul spins to his 2-minute rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner". Backed by a pair of acoustic guitar players behind him, Hamilton did not miss every single note during his rendition. He even did an improvisation towards the end of the performance, mesmerizing the crowd even more.
Many couldn't help but compare his performance to Stacy Ferguson a.k.a. Fergie's infamous national anthem rendition at last year's NBA All-Star Game. They said that Hamilton did a much better job than the former Black Eyed Peas member, even though both put their own spin to the anthem. "Fergie throwing her shoes at the tv right now," one quipped, while another simply said, "Better than Fergie." One other noted, "This right here is how you put a spin on the national anthem... Fergie."
As for this year's halftime show, J. Cole got the honor to entertain the audience with a medley of his hits. The rapper kicked off his set with a rendition of his latest single "Middle Child", before giving a shout out to 21 Savage prior to his "A Lot" rendition. He then launched into a rendition of "ATM", following it up with his mellow hit "Love Yours". Concluding his performance, Cole belted out "Don't Save Her".
Cole did not put any spectacular visuals during his performance, but his set was still praised by many as they thought that it was much better than Maroon 5's Super Bowl LIII halftime performance. "This simple performance was better than SuperBowl," one comment read. "HIGH-KEY better than super bowl halftime," another wrote as one individual echoed, "This was way better than the NFL halftime!"
Also taking the field to offer performances were Meek Mill and Carly Rae Jepsen. Mill belted out a medley of the songs off "Championships" as the players were introduced, while Jepsen sang Canada's national anthem.
