Rapper Jack Harlow to headline Preakness LIVE music festival

Grammy-nominated rapper and sometime actor Jack Harlow will be the featured performer at Preakness LIVE, the music and entertainment festival held in the infield of the famed race on the third Saturday in May.

The 149th Preakness Stakes will be run May 18 at Pimlico Race Course as the second leg of the Triple Crown, coming between the Kentucky Derby on May 4 and the Belmont Stakes on June 8.

Other performers include DJ and musician Gryffin, rapper Channel Tres, electronic musician and DJ Frank Walker, and DJ Chantel Jeffries. The festival starts at 10:30 a.m.

The day of racing, music, food and artwork created in partnership with the Maryland Institute College of Art is dubbed Preakness 149.

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“We’re thrilled to be back for Preakness 149 and Preakness LIVE, and to celebrate the incredible connection this event has to the city of Baltimore and to Maryland,” Belinda Stronach, chief executive officer of 1/ST, said in a statement. “We are proud to work with exceptional national and local partners who share our vision for the future of the highest standard of world-class Thoroughbred horse racing combined with unique and elevated guest experiences, and exciting wagering opportunities.”

Local restaurants will be featured as part of Preakness, including Jimmy’s Seafopod, Hoodfellas, Boardwalk Fries and Peruvian Brothers. Atlas Restaurant Group, BLK Swan and Ridgewells will also cater food at the track.

A week before the race, the community group Park Heights Renaissance will host the third annual George “Spider” Anderson Preakness Music and Arts Festival — named for the Black jockey who won the 1889 Preakness — in the 4700 block of Park Heights Avenue.

Harlow will perform in the evening after the races are finished. Post time for the Preakness Stakes is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Harlow was scheduled to perform at Pimlico in 2021 but canceled that appearance “due to personal reasons,” according to The Baltimore Sun. He canceled the show days after his DJ Ronnie Tyshon O’Bannon was charged with murder, accused of fatally shooting Kasmira Nash in a Louisville nightclub the day of the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Harlow was also at the club.

O’Bannon pleaded guilty to lesser charges shortly before his trial was to begin in December 2023 and was sentenced to time served, according to local television station WDRB.

Hugo Kugiya

Hugo.Kugiya@thebaltimorebanner.com