Local Love: Tank And The Bangas Keep New Orleans In Their Music – Essence

Tank and the Bangas have always carried New Orleans with them, no matter how far their music travels. Long before the awards and global tours, the group took shape inside the city’s open mic circuit, where poetry, performance, and live instrumentation collided in real time. Lead singer Tarriona “Tank” Ball found her voice in those rooms, while her bandmates (which currently includes Norman Spence, Rob Kellner, T33ny, and Devin Trusclair) matched her vocal energy with their unique sound.

After meeting at Liberation Lounge in Algiers on the West Bank of New Orleans in 2011, the group released Think Tank two years later. In 2017, their breakthrough moment came when they won NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest with a viral performance. The win gave them increased popularity, opening the door to national attention and eventually a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist in 2020. Since then, the band has continued to build a catalog that blends soul, hip-hop, jazz, and poetry into something distinctly their own.

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Following an often-talked about performance at the 2024 ESSENCE Festival of Culture, Tank and the Bangas released The Heart, The Mind, The Soul, which eventually earned the group a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album. It also set the tone for what comes next, as the band prepares to close out a trilogy that began with Green Balloon and continued with Red Balloon. The Last Balloon is set for release on May 15 via Verve Records. The lead single, “Move,” featuring Lucky Daye, has already begun circulating, signaling another step forward in their evolving sound. The Last Balloon Tour will follow, kicking off on May 2, and it takes them across major cities such as New York, D.C., Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, and more. 

Ahead of their upcoming album, Tank and the Bangas are returning to where it all started, with a stripped-down performance in New Orleans titled “Poetry on a Porch.” The pop-up event leans into the group’s roots, placing Tank’s voice and writing at the center while again highlighting the 504 on the global stage. The first edition of this series took place on April 11 in New Orleans, adding another layer to their ever-growing legacy.

For Tank and the Bangas, every stage still traces back to the city that gave them their start. If you’re not familiar with this award-winning collective’s catalog, here are some songs to get you up to speed.

“Quick” (2017)

“Nice Things” (2019)

“No ID” (2022)

“Stolen Fruit” (2022)

“Communion In My Cup,” ft. EARTHGANG and The Ton3s (2022)

“Big,” ft. Big Freedia (2022)

“Move,” ft. Lucky Daye (2026)