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Flo Milli: Tiny Desk Concert

This Black Music Month, Tiny Desk is giving the ladies their flowers. We’re releasing nine Tiny Desk concerts from Black women artists, from veterans who’ve paved the way for what we hear today in Black music, to those who are carving out their own paths.

The Tiny Desk has humbled many artists, but Flo Milli strutted into NPR HQ and behind the Desk with the unwavering confidence of an OG. While her appearance gave soft and feminine, clothed in blush pink with baby’s breath scattered throughout her hair, Milli’s lyrical prowess sliced like a sword. Her bars were bratty and braggadocious alongside Atlanta’s own Band of Brothers and her background singers she dubbed “The Floettes.”

Flo Milli has carved out her own lane in hip-hop. At just 24 years old, she’s dropped a trilogy of albums — 2020’s Ho, Why Is You Here?, 2022's You Still Here, Ho? and 2024’s Fine Ho, Stay — and scored her first Billboard Hot 100 charting single with the infectious “Never Lose Me.” Performing with a live band for the first time, we get a taste of each of these albums in her performance. The opener, a medley of “Conceited” and “Bed Time,” gets a rock makeover with some heavy keybass and electric guitar. Then, Milli and her band take us back to her debut days with the song that put her on the map, “Beef FloMix,” which takes on a soulful, guitar-led makeover. Closing her set with a treat, the band exchange their instruments for acoustic guitars to perform a special rendition of “Never Lose Me” — with a new verse, exclusively for the Tiny Desk audience.

SET LIST

  • “Conceited”
  • “Bed Time”
  • “In The Party”
  • “Beef FloMix”
  • “Weak”
  • “Never Lose Me”

MUSICIANS

  • Flo Milli: vocals
  • Slim Wav: keys, musical direction, guitar
  • André Brown: bass, guitar
  • Marlon Allen: guitar
  • Jordan Hemby: drums, bass
  • Samira "Yah Yah" Gordon: vocals
  • Desiré Gaston: vocals

TINY DESK TEAM

  • Producer: Ashley Pointer
  • Director/Editor: Kara Frame
  • Audio Technical Director: Neil Tevault
  • Host/Series Producer: Bobby Carter
  • Videographers: Kara Frame, Joshua Bryant, Alanté Serene
  • Audio Engineer: Josephine Nyounai
  • Photographer: Estefania Mitre
  • Animation: Jackie Lay
  • Florist: Kelanda Edwards
  • Tiny Desk Team: Hazel Cills, Maia Stern
  • Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
  • Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
  • VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins

Copyright 2024 NPR

Corrected: June 26, 2024 at 9:10 AM CDT
A previous version of this story misspelled the name of vocalist Samira "Yah Yah" Gordon.
Ashley Pointer
Ashley Pointer is a news assistant for NPR Music.