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DJ Cassidy had already announced the four hip-hop icons who will join him each night for a “Pass the Mic Live!” residency coming up at Las Vegas’ Planet Hollywood this summer. Now he’s revealing eight additional stars of equally significant stature who will join the engagement for just one or two nights each: Public Enemy, Akon, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Jermaine Dupri, Da Brat, Too $hort and Warren G.
These eight are adding their names to a lineup already held down by Cassidy and the quartet of previously named rap legends who are with him for the entire run — Ja Rule, Fat Joe, Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh.
The three-weekend stand, which is being presented by Live Nation and Caesars Entertainment, takes place July 5-6, 12-13 and 19-20 at Planet Hollywood’s Bakkt Theater (currently hosting Shania Twain’s residency, and previously the home of long stands for pop stars like Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani and Backstreet Boys).
“This will be unlike any other show you’ve seen, and a show that people want to continuously come back to see more than once and night after night,” DJ Cassidy tells Variety, “because every show is a unique experience with one-of-a-kind collaborative moments, which is part of why the special guests are such an important piece to the puzzle. And this entire show is founded on the production element, from the stage design — which I don’t want to reveal too much about —to the visuals to our wardrobe. Las Vegas is not a place you go to see your standard concert. You go to see a show, and Ja Rule, Fat Joe, Slick Rick Doug E. Fresh and I have shared that vision from the very beginning. And I know that Public Enemy, Akon, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Jermaine Dupri, Da Brat, Too $hort and Warren G are all going to help us take that vision to the next level…
“We are drawing inspiration from all iconic Las Vegas shows — not just the Rat Pack, but Liberace, Wayne Newton, Elvis Presley and even non-musical shows like Siegfried and Roy. Some of those shows were way before my time,” Cassidy admits, “so in many cases they’ve inspired me through the research I’ve done. But they have inspired what we’re putting together, through their showmanship, through their theatrical nature, through their wardrobe and everything about them that made them definitive to Las Vegas. And we want to channel the spirit of those shows and redefine it through a hip-hop lens, to create something that will go down in Vegas history.”
It’s not as if there have really been much of any shows featuring rappers that have taken place for more than a night or two in rooms like the Bakkt, let alone one that aims to recreate the spirit of the Rat Pack. “There is not a lot of hip-hop in the Las Vegas residency space, and I am very cognizant of that,” says Cassidy, “and I take this responsibility very deeply. It’s really important to all of us to create something not only that represents hip-hop in a special way, but from a broader perspective, to create something that can be talked about in the future in the same sentence as the other performers and shows that I mentioned.”
Among the special guests, Public Enemy’s one-night appearance on the first weekend may be most unique at this point in time. “They’ve done one other show in the U.S. in the last seven years, and so this is quite a big deal for them, and it’s quite an honor to have them, as it is to have everyone,” Cassidy says. “And Flavor Flav lives in Las Vegas, so he’s now a hometown hero.”
Cassidy comes by his fandom of all the artists naturally, and over the vast majority of his life. “All of these artists are myhip-hop heroes, and they have been since I was a child. You know, I waited in line at Tower Records in 1994 for Da Brat to sign my CD. So it’s surreal to see my name on anything with these artists, and that’s just coming from a personal nature, which is the cherry on the cake to all of this.”
The schedule for the residency’s eight special guests:
July 5: Raekwon / Ghostface Killah
July 6: Public Enemy
July 12: Akon
July 13: Akon
July 19: Jermaine Dupri / Da Brat
July 20: Too $hort / Warren G
The Las Vegas stay is the latest of a multi-chapter story for Pass the Mic, which is just a hair under four years old as a franchise, although of course Cassidy’s career as a celebrity DJ extends much further back than that. Pass the Mic was born out of the early days of the pandemic as an Internet phenomenon beginning in July 2020, when Cassidy spent his days being shut in to film top R&B and hip-hop legends rapping or singing a verse and a chorus of their biggest hits, arranged to a continuous beat, for seamless medleys that would last up to a half-hour. That quickly developed into a series of TV specials that aired on BET, often following the network’s biggest awards shows.
The most recent chapter in the Pass the Mic story kicked off one year ago, when Cassidy led a series of arena shows, dubbed Pass the Mic Live, that obviously had the stars gathered participating for more than just a stanza or two. “Pass the Mic Live’s first show was almost exactly a year ago, May 12, 2023, at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, where we sold out an arena on the very first shot. Most recently we brought it back to the place where it all started, at Prudential Center; we were just there on May 11 for another sold-out arena show, this time featuring TLC, Boys II Men, Bobby Brown, Method Man, Redman, Faith Evans and many more. And in-between those two shows at Prudential Center was honestly what I feel like was the crown jewel, the sold-out show at Radio City Music Hall, my celebration of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary, where I united 25 New York native hip-hop icons on one stage. It really was the greatest night of my life.
“From there, I knew that dream of taking Pass the Mic Live to Vegas was going to come true, but I envisioned it more as an end goal, and I would’ve never, thought that it would happen that that dream would become a reality so soon.”
Says Cassidy, “I’ve always been fascinated with old-world Las Vegas — with Fremont Street and visiting hotels like the Four Queens and the El Cortez that are all very much still there. I’ve always loved playing the slot machines in those hotels, and I’ve always loved walking through the Flamingo and the Tropicana, which was actually just demolished, I believe. I always loved walking even through the Mirage, which is newer-school old school Las Vegas, that’s also about to be completely torn down. I’ve always been fascinated with old world Las Vegas with the history, with the neon signs, with the glamour, with the showmanship, with the costumes. And when I was envisioning what Pass the Mic Live would be in Las Vegas, it was very clear to me that the Rat Pack would serve as the greatest inspiration.
“When you think of the Rat Pack, you think of five solo performers who came to Vegas as superstars, not as unknowns, yet they came together to form an ensemble that you could only see in Las Vegas. Unlike Elvis or Wayne Newton or Liberace, which also I’ve drawn inspiration from, the Rat Pack was an ensemble all-star cast, and I was fascinated with that idea, because that’s what Pass the Mic has been from day one, when the first edition aired July 6, 2020. So it really makes sense that Ja Rule, Fat Joe, Slick Rick, Doug E. Fresh, and I came together — five guys, like the Rat Pack — to form an all-star cast that you could only see in Vegas during this residency.
“You know, we’re all moving to Vegas for the month of July — Ja Rule, Slick Rick, Doug E. Fresh and I. We’re packing our tuxedos, we’re packing our bow ties, we’re packing our cummerbunds, and we encourage everyone to do the same. I’m getting asked on Instagram, ‘Should we dress up?’ And my answer is, hell yeah, you should dress up. Of course, it’s not a requirement, but we’re encouraging everyone to feel fly and dress the part, and really help us create a unique experience that Vegas hasn’t seen in a long time.”
