Temple Hills, MD — Temple Hills, MD -- Queen Bey is in town this weekend and right next to her will be a young, talented Maryland native.
She made a name for herself in the area’s GoGo scene.
The young star is 24-year-old Ariel O’Neal.
She takes on riffs and solos in YouTube videos. This weekend won’t be her first time playing for the Hip-Hop Queen.
"The show is going to be – I'm going to be on a thousand,” said O’Neal.
"Dreams come true. They don't just come true. You really have to work,” said her mother, Monique O’Neal.
Monique O'Neal told WUSA9 that's exactly what her daughter did.
She said she was the only child of nine kids to actually like the guitar, which wasn't purchased for her.
Her parents had brought it for her older sister.
"She ended up quitting, but I really, really loved it,” Ari (her stage name) told WUSA9.
"Of course, having a big family living on one income, it wasn't easy. I couldn't always afford or we couldn't always afford to keep them in things,” her mother said.
The Temple Hills native was actually selected for a free honors program early on. Her mother said she then went to Prince George's County Community College and worked her way to the University of Maryland.
A female GoGo band got her traveling. Then, just before her 24th birthday, she got a message to play with Beyoncé at Coachella.
“There is a God,” the 24-year-old told WUSA9. “Even if you don’t believe in God or believe in like energy or the universe, it’s there and it’s going to make sure you’re fine. Like there were times when I didn’t think that I would be doing this for a living or I didn’t think that I would make it, but at the end of the day I was fine. When people say it’s going to be ‘okay’ it doesn’t sound right at first, but it’s really going to be okay.”
She’s now touring with Beyoncé and Jay-Z on their “On the Run 2” Tour.
Her mother tells her, her first large concert will be on Friday, watching her daughter share the stage with the King and Queen of Hip-Hop.
