welcome to hollywood! where an epic party is getting started. the stage at the historic greek theater will soon light up with an extraordinary list of musical talent all taking part in a global celebration for freedom. i am sara sidner. i am sitting next to my man van jones. he s here to celebrate juneteeth on cnn. we are so excited to be with you. this is america s newest federal holiday, commemorating the end, the true end of slavery in this country. folks heading to the greek theater, here in hollywood. and all of you at home are going to see an incredible concert with an amazing all-star lineup of black singers and songwriters. we re going to enjoy a show-stopping tribute to the queen of rock and roll, tina turner. we lost her this year. it was devastating for all of us. but you re going to see something you haven t seen before, y all. so stick around. actress chloe will give us her rendition of one of turner s greatest hits what s love got to do with it? she is going t
we are closing in on the second annual juneteeth concert at the greek theatre in los angeles. you re looking at the theater right now. it will be an exceptional display of black performer as cross generations and genres. we ve got everything you want. you ll see it right here on cnn. another fantastic artist who s performing tonight is joining us now. rapper and singer and grinder coi leray. so happy to see you out there. i want to ask you something. i was watching a lot of you. i know that your kids yeah, they re crazy about it. i m going to one-up van, i m crazy about you. [ laughter ] because you have such an interesting history. you have been grinding since you were a teenager. you left high school, you knew you needed to make money. you had a single mom raising you. a lot of people think you come from this father who s a producer. but you have been forging your own path. tell me how you do that.
like, the things that have happened to me in the last two years are things i ve been dying to happen to me for my music career forever. that s incredible. and it s the one time where i did a project that was really just a passion thing, like, oh, let me do this movie. because this is something i m into. and it wasn t like, all right, i m going to get 90 rotten tomatoes. [ laughter ] when you don t plan it when you open your heart, that s when your world opens and that s what i want to show people. your heart opened. we all felt that in so many things. questlove, you are transformative. thank you. thank you. for everything that you have done for this country and the world. really appreciate it. thank you guys. that was just straight up soulful. the excitement is building as we get closer to the juneteeth concert. we ll set the stage when van and i visit with hip-hop star coi leray, one of tonight s headliners, y all, that s coming up next!
we re about a half an hour away from a phenomenal concert, celebrating freedom on this juneteeth holiday, and enormous amount of talent and energy has gone into making this event possible. it s going to be insane. joining us now, one of the creative forces behind the juneteeth concert, questlove is producing tonight s show. he s an award-winning musician and filmmaker, an oscar award-winning, just to be clear. all right. what can we expect from the performances tonight? what are you excited about? you know what, tonight is basically a celebration and a display of joy. and often times i think when we talk about our history, about
i grew up on swb. you can expect all their hits. i think it s going to be a sing-along in that amphitheater. reporter: deonno harmon knows how to put on a show, from super bowl half times to this year s emmys. juneteeth. she s executive-producing tonight s juneteeth concert on cnn. celebrate our culture to share our culture, and to continue to push for freedom for not just black americans, but for everybody. juneteeth commemorates the day in 1865 when union troops traveled to texas to enforce the end of slavery, two years after the emancipation proclamation. black history is american history. vice president kamala harris will appear live on stage just days after the first white house juneteeth concert. she and president biden elevated juneteeth to a federal holiday in 2021. so to have her in the building, in the house, sharing this energy, it takes it to another dimension.