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The Roots Picnic brought tens of thousands of people to Philadelphia’s Belmont Plateau over the weekend. Despite long wait times to get in, patience prevailed for those who witnessed Jay-Z’s headlining set.

In its 18th year, the festival brought out its biggest lineup to date for an estimated 80,000 attendees in Fairmount Park. Nearly 30 years after the release of his debut album, “Reasonable Doubt,” Jay-Z closed out the first night with Philadelphia’s very own The Roots as his backing band.

While Philadelphians packed the festival grounds over the weekend, plenty of people from outside the City of Brotherly Love made the trek, including Kiah VanTull from Brooklyn, New York.

“I haven’t been to Philly in years, probably since college trips, so it was really nice to see the cityscape,” VanTull said, with the Philadelphia skyline overlooking the festival grounds.

Joining her for the trip was Haynes Angaza, whose previous trip to Philly wasn’t too long ago, when the Sixers took on the New York Knicks in the second round of the NBA Playoffs.

“We had to come down and whoop y’all,” Angaza joked. “But it’s nice to be here in harmony, to be here in ‘brotherly love.’ I love Philly artists more than you know. Things that I have downloaded … are the Jazzy Jeff mixtapes, Summertime No. 1 through No. 10. I’m playing them all the time.”

Despite long wait times, good vibes prevailed

While Jeff was performing his DJ set Saturday at the Plateau Stage, thousands of ticket holders were still piling through the general admission gates at the festival. An Instagram post from the festival warned of a 20-minute wait, but some attendees said they were waiting up to two hours to get in.

Shadone Taylor, who traveled from Washington, D.C., said she enjoyed the festival but believes organizers could improve accessibility, noting that disability parking was difficult to find due to a lack of clear signage.

“So we parked all the way down at the first entrance, but when we got down closer to the first entrance, they said that the line was, like, two hours long to get in,” Taylor said.

Taylor attended with her friend Tenisha Turner, who was especially excited to see the festival’s celebration of 50 years of go-go, a defining part of D.C.’s music scene.

“We missed most of it because we were standing in line trying to get in,” Turner said.

Despite the delay to her day, Turner made sure to keep looking on the bright side.

“I love the Black people here,” Turner said. “Everybody is peaceful, having fun … Good vibes, good vibes.”

Philadelphia remained the focus during star-studded sets

Performers made sure to shout out the City of Brotherly Love, especially for the support the city has shown them over the years.

Jermaine Dupri brought out special guests Da Brat, Lil Jon and Bow Wow while Tyler, The Creator watched from the pit at the Plateau Stage. Dupri has been behind major hit records since the 1990s, including “Money Ain’t A Thang,” which he performed Saturday. He reminisced on some of his early trips to Philadelphia during his set.

“I’ve been to South Street, you know what I mean? I used to go to City Blue. This was back in 92,” Dupri said. “This [is] like my second home.”

Philadelphia was well represented during Jay-Z’s set, already having The Roots backing him. The rapper and record mogul brought out the city’s very own State Property and Meek Mill, artists who have been released through his Roc-A-Fella Records and Roc Nation label.

While most of the attention was given to Jay-Z’s freestyle, where he allegedly called out Drake, he made sure to give The Roots some credit during his set, not only for the work they’ve done together in the past, but for the very festival he was performing at.

“We made a beautiful album called Unplugged … a long time ago,” Jay-Z said. “I know they was doing this beautiful thing out in Philly called the Roots Picnic. I just wanted to come out here and represent for them … We worked really hard to put this together. I hope you guys enjoyed yourself.”

The Roots Picnic was one of many attractions in the city over the weekend, including West Philly Porchfest, Fan Expo at the Pennsylvania Convention Center and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band making up their rescheduled show at Xfinity Mobile Arena.