Kanye West along with Chris Brown and Rihanna kicked things off at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans Friday night.

The three-day festival runs until Sunday and Jill Scott, Patti LaBelle and Men’s Fitness cover boy LL Cool J headline Saturday’s lineup.

No real good reason to post a pic of LL all swole up. Though spies recently caught the legendary rapper pumping iron for five hours straight at Club H on East 34th Street in preparation for a Men’s Health cover. Looking forward to that.