Durham musician Jooselord is turning grief into a citywide celebration this fall. All Onyx World, a free festival spread across eight downtown Durham venues, will fill the city with 33 performers on Friday, October 30, honoring his son Onyx, who died of brain cancer at age 5.
The festival takes its name and purpose directly from Onyx Williams, whose short life drew an outpouring of support across the Triangle before his death. As reported by Axios, Jooselord said his son “was everything” he had, and that everything he does going forward will carry his son's name attached to it. The lineup will be announced Thursday, October 1, featuring North Carolina artists spread across venues including The Fruit, Durham Central Park, Motorco Music Hall, Pinhook, Rubies, Bull McCabe's, Northstar Church of the Arts, and Boom Club.
A Festival Built on Overlapping Shows, Not Ticket Sales
Jooselord, whose real name is Raheem Williams, described the event's design to Axios as resembling “a night at Hopscotch,” with overlapping shows scattered across multiple clubs rather than a single stage. The comparison is intentional: Hopscotch Music Festival, according to Rave Bonfire, operates as a multi-venue event in downtown Raleigh with daytime outdoor stages and night shows dispersed across independent music clubs, and Jooselord modeled his Durham festival on that decentralized layout.
Admission is free, with participating venues donating their time and space to make it happen. Jooselord called the festival “homegrown on purpose,” per the same Axios report, and stressed that despite the emotional stakes, All Onyx World is not structured as a fundraiser. Known locally as the moshpit messiah, Jooselord has said his shows are built around emotion and feeling, and he frames this one as a celebration and a chance for the community to be together rather than a solicitation for donations.
From Diagnosis to a Community-Wide Rally
Onyx's illness began with an unexpected seizure in November 2024, when he was three years old. Surgeons removed a brain tumor, and doctors diagnosed him on December 5, 2024, two days after his fourth birthday, with a high-grade glioma, according to CLTure. The American Brain Tumor Association has reported a five-year overall survival rate below 20 percent and a median overall survival under two years for children diagnosed outside early infancy.
The diagnosis galvanized support across the region. NC Central men's basketball head coach LeVelle Moton named four-year-old Onyx an honorary assistant coach for a November 14, 2025 game against UNC Chapel Hill, where UNC coach Hubert Davis presented him with a personalized jersey and signed basketball, Chapelboro.com reported at the time. CLTure's reporting also noted that the Charlotte Hornets hosted Onyx for a dream experience at an NBA game, building him a custom locker with a personalized jersey and sneakers and giving him courtside seats alongside his father.
Mourning Across the Triangle
Onyx died on March 3, 2026, at age five. HBCU Gameday reported that the North Carolina Central University men's basketball team honored him with a moment of silence before a game following his death, a tribute that underscored how deeply his fight had touched regional sports programs and the broader community.
Jooselord is a Durham musician.
Looking Ahead to a New Nonprofit
Jooselord's community ties predate his son's diagnosis. Spectacular Magazine's 2019 profile noted he had already partnered with three charitable organizations on annual book bag, coat, and holiday gift drives in the Triangle, long before All Onyx World took shape.
He is now working to launch a nonprofit called Onyx is Hope, aimed at supporting families with sick children who don't have the public platform he does. According to Axios, Jooselord said the community helped him and that “everybody with a sick kid is not Jooselord.”
