Jay-Z's new look for his 2026 Roots Picnic performance instantly became one of the festival’s biggest talking points. Instead of his usual wick dreadlocs, he wore his hair in an afro. Now, the details of his hair transformation are coming to light.
How long did it take to comb out Jay-Z's locs?
According to loctician Houston Locs, combing out Hov's wick locs was no small task. In a since-deleted Threads post, Houston Locs said it took “four days and four bottles of Cécred,” referring to Beyoncé’s haircare line.
After the four-day comb-out was completed, hairstylist Letisia Ravelo styled Jay-Z's afro.
Ravelo shared a photo of the final look to her Instagram account, writing, “So many different flows [hair pick emoji] [smiling face with sunglasses emoji] Thank you again for trusting me on this switch up!!! @jayz Big fucking JIGGA [raising hands emoji] [flexed arm emoji] you broke the internet again [zany face emoji].”
What did Jay-Z do during his 2026 Roots Picnic set?
On Saturday (May 30), Jay-Z took the stage at the Philadelphia festival and took the crowd through some of his biggest hits and fan favorites for a 90-minute set.
He also brought out special guests Jazmine Sullivan, Meek Mill, and Bilal before treating fans to an unofficial State Property reunion with Beanie Sigel, Freeway, Peedi Crakk, and Young Gunz.
However, the most viral moment of his Roots Festival set was a scathing freestyle that seemingly shaded Drake, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Tory Lanez, and Dame Dash.
The freestyle brought on responses from The Breakfast Club’s Charlamagne Tha God, Bobby Shmurda, and LeBron James.
Hov will perform three historic shows at Yankees Stadium in New York City on July 10, 11, and 12. The first show will celebrate the 30th anniversary of his debut album Reasonable Doubt, and the second show will commemorate 25 years of The Blueprint. The third and final show, billed as “Extra Innings,” was added due to massive audience demand.
