Isabella Montenegro
Editor-in-Chief
Rolling Loud headlined top artists such as PlayBoi Carti, Travis Scott, and Future in the South Bay. The setline was cramped with numerous artists that blew the audience away. The adequate festival served the rap industry righteously by providing top artists, considerable location, and appetizing culinary made for a perfect weekend experience.
Rolling Loud is a music festival that was founded in 2015 by Matt Zingker and Tariq Cherif, who met in elementary school in Hollywood, Florida. Their purpose was to create a festival to showcase the best timely hip-hop music therefore it being the largest hip-hop festival in the World.
The festival is set in multiple locations throughout the world such as California, Miami, Portugal, Thailand, Germany and The Netherlands. This rap music festival is a three day event that includes the top rappers in the music industry in modern day. Rolling Loud was the first music festival located in Inglewood, California.
Rolling Loud in California was located in Inglewood at the Hollywood Park Grounds adjacent to Sofi Stadium and near Kia Forum. The event took place on Mar. 3-5 with different time slots each day ranging from 1 p.m.-12:00 a.m. The location was advantageous and profitable as Inglewood is neighboring Los Angeles, the largest city in the state of California, the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, and one of the world’s most populous megacities. Therefore, this attracted a multitude of young people as this was a sold out event.
The culinary provided at the event was the average overpriced food but provided a variety of options from urban/healthy food to concession stands. The long lines were worthwhile as one received the perfect late night snack to prepare for the next performance along the way.
The best artists of the first day were Saweetie and Tyga. Saweetie’s performance was impeccable as her costume matched perfectly with the pretty girl vibe that consisted of bright feminine colors. The songs she sang were hit songs that allowed the audience to sing along seemingly. Tyga was the centerpiece of the night as he also sang his top hit songs, brought out a special guest, and assembled the stage to hype up the audience. Tyga’s special guest was rapper, Yg who sang songs that the two artists have together. The stage had special effects such as smoke and flashing lights that kept the audience in tune and excited throughout the whole performance. PlayBoi Carti was the headliner for night one but failed to deliver as he did not come out timely and audiences started aggressive mosh pits that became dangerous. Eventually he made an appearance but began screaming into the mic that led some of the audience to leave early. All of this, led the artist to end his performance earlier than expected as well.
For night two the best artists were City Girls, Don Toliver, and Lil Baby. City Girls performed during daylight which made it better for her set as she wore a vibrant costume. She sang top hit songs that excited the audience for the duration of her performance. Don Toliver was the top performer as he brought out three special guests. He brought out Kali Uchis, Toliver’s girlfriend; James Black; and most notably Justin Bieber. Bieber has one of the biggest fan bases for the younger generation and when he made his appearance the crowd went crazy. This was Bieber’s first performance since his cancellation of his Justice Tour and his first time performing at Rolling Loud. Toliver set the tone as he sang songs from his new album “Love Sick.” Once again the headliner for the night disappointed as it lacked acceleration and suspensefulness. Travis Scott was the headliner but continues to struggle with audience hype as he suffered a tragic performance a period before where people died during his performance at AstroWorld.
Day three was the most memorable night as the event ended with the most hit artists. The unforgettable artists of the night included Future, Ohgeesy, Ice Spice, and Lil Uzi Vert. Ohgeesy led a comical performance as he brought out his mother who danced with him. This was a good addition to the performance as it was unique and unexpected. Ice Spice was similar to the other female artists but still gave an incredible performance as she had exhilarated back up dancers and an amazing costume set. Her hit songs that are viral on TikTok were sung and left the audience content as those songs are catchy and danceable. Lil Uzi Vert is by far one of the greatest rappers of this generation and he delivered by singing new songs such as his song “Just Wanna Rock ” to various old songs that everyone in the audience was able to rap along to. Last but definitely not least was Future who ended the whole event and night by bringing out special guest, AsapFerg. Future is an older artist who obviously still holds popularity but continues to release music on a timely basis. He sang his famous song “Wait for U” which excited the crowd immensely. Overall Future was the highlight of the night and possibly the entire event.
The general admission tickets range from $300-$500 but is worth every dime invested. The event provided not only music but food, carnival rides, and merchandise for purchase. The location was close enough for residents in the South Bay with a safe residency. The set up at the Hollywood Park Grounds was large enough to accommodate the amount of people that attended and having three stages allowed for more artists to perform and for the attendees to have more of a safe and big enough space to enjoy each and every performance.
Rolling Loud next edition is set in Miami on Jul 21-Jul 23 at the Hard Rock Stadium. Tickets were available for purchase on many different event sites and even on the official Rolling Loud website: rollingloud.com.
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