REVIEW: Rolling Loud Los Angeles 2024
IF YOU WERE WITHIN A 5-MILE RADIUS— of Inglewood last weekend, you might still be recovering from the second-hand high wafting from Hollywood Park grounds as it hosted Rolling Loud’s first stop in Southern California for the second year in a row. Historically and culturally rich Los Angeles saw not only the annual gathering of Hip-Hop’s biggest and rising artists, but also the festival’s first 4-day installment as it added an extra day to the head of the weekend for a special sole performance by Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s supergroup, ¥$, of their collaborative album “Vultures 1”. The next days were followed by fellow superstar-headliners Nicki Minaj, Post Malone, Future, and Metro Boomin.
As it isn’t Rolling Loud without a touch of controversy, this surprise came (perhaps as a reparation) months after the festival pulled Lil Uzi Vert from Sunday’s headline when the rapper publicly expressed confusion over never agreeing to perform. This blunder was quickly forgotten and replaced by the buzz of listeners finally able to see Ye in concert, and expectations were set high, though hesitantly.
The two men donned the smoke-swallowed stage (built specially for them in the middle of the event grounds) wearing masks and rocking back and forth, seemingly forgetting live vocals as the studio version of the album played for thousands of attendees. The duo has taken the heat for essentially hosting a live listening party, with a slew of guest appearances by North West, Playboi Carti, rich the kid, Freddie Gibbs, and YG; The aftermath was still a mixed bag, some fans disheartened by the lack of interaction in the performance and others relieved that they showed up at all.
Surprisingly, for a festival with its own Wikipedia tab citing “Notable events and incidents” over the years, the noise around ¥$’s performance– or lack thereof– was the loudest of the whole weekend; There were other issues within the gears of the event that led to artists Junior H and Natanael Cano being pulled from the lineup and OhGeesy replacing Fuerza Regida on stage (reasons unconfirmed), to the disappointment of Regional Mexican music fans, who were left with a performance by 17 year-old Chino Pacas to represent the genre.
Other outlets have referred to this year’s debut Rolling Loud stop as generally uneventful following the outcome of the highly anticipated ¥$ performance, but given the festival’s rocky history, the lack of scandal was somehow refreshing.
Becoming “the world’s biggest Hip-Hop festival” in just under a decade since its creation weighs heavily on the internal team and acts to bring the hype above all else, reciprocated by fiercely loyal Hip-Hop fans. The overwhelming success and rapid expansion during Rolling Loud’s formative years left room to grow a reputation for “incidents'', controllable or not. Over the years of petty scandal and unexpected tragedy overshadowing the music, the festival has now gotten a handle on what to expect as to prevent the past and grow something entirely different; What was deemed “underwhelming” about this year might actually be Rolling Loud finding its footing as not just an iconically carefree event, but a long-standing one that would join Coachella and Lollapalooza in the running for modern music festivals.
With no breakout of violence, arrests, major crowd-crushing, or displeased artists abandoning stage, the early lows were not so low that they couldn’t be outweighed by the small joys brought by the rest of the weekend.
Read more below to appreciate some of 2024’s Rolling Loud LA highlights.
NICKI MINAJ’S GAG CITY
Rolling Loud / John Cotter
The release of “Pink Friday 2” at the tail end of 2023 came 5 years after Nicki Minaj’s last studio album and almost 14 years since the namesake project that put her on the map, the original “Pink Friday”. Crowds of hot-pink-clad Barbz walked the Inglewood blocks, filing into the Hollywood Park grounds all day to attend Minaj’s only LA stop on the “Pink Friday 2” tour, and they were not disappointed; in addition to large scale visuals bringing us physically her virtual utopia “Gag City”, Minaj made up for the small timeslot by performing some of her most timeless hits from the original debut project, including the beloved “Super Bass”, “Moment 4 Life”, and “Starships” (to the thrill of fans who thought they would never hear the last song live again).
WELCOMING SPECIAL GUEST & R&B STARS
Rolling Loud / Mickey Pierre-Louis
Rolling Loud isn’t a party unless its artists are bringing out their homies and lovers to join the fun.
In addition to YG re-joining multiple other artists on stage, he brought out ex-girlfriend and icy girl Saweetie to proclaim their love for each other, despite reportedly splitting earlier this year.
While Kali Uchis stayed in this year after giving birth to her and Don Toliver’s first child just before the weekend, the crooner brought out Kodak Black and Travis Scott, and later that night joined Metro Boomin and Future for their closing set.
Post Malone’s own headlining set was happily crashed by Quavo on Saturday night for a performance of “White Iverson”.
Rolling Loud / Ashley Thompson
Rolling Loud also welcomed some neighboring fans of R&B by billing some of the genre’s favorite singers (Bryson Tiller, Summer Walker, PARTYNEXTDOOR) and rising stars (Jordan Ward, Chase Shakur, Ryan Trey).
EXPERIENCES
Rolling Loud / Priscilla Rodriguez
The true highlights of the weekend might have really been the moments created running between the Ethika, GoPuff, and Culture Kings sponsored stages; In addition to the annual carnival setup complete with rides and photo ops, attendees were allowed to bring skateboards to shred in the festival’s skatepark (in case the music wasn’t doing it for them). If you had some time, back in the VIP section were free haircuts at Loud Cuts, merch giveaways at the Stiiizy booth, and free flash tattoos. Between all of that and catching the 3-point shoot contests played by artists on the bill, you could refuel at the long row of specialty dishes from joints like Randy’s Donuts, Dulanville, Prince St. Pizza, Boiling Crab, and more, presented by Family Style food festival.
LUNA & FRIENDS
Offstage were plenty of stars working behind the scenes: LUNA stopped to chat with 13 year-old interviewer Jazlyn “Jazzy” Guerra of JazzysWorldTV, billed rapper Space JaM The Pilot, and artist SuperDuperKyle.
