Rolling Loud has truly gained momentum since launching in Wynwood only three years ago. In its biggest year to date, Future, Kendrick Lamar, and Travis Scott were announced ealier this year as the headliners, things just took fire. It’s been heralded as the best hip-hop festival in the game, even better than Rock The Bells (R.I.P.). In Miami, the annual event has become known as the “Ultra Music Festival of hip-hop.” It wasn’t as wild as the infamous EDM festival, but it definitely came close.
Over the weekend, Rolling Loud 2017 finally went down at Bayfront Park in Miami, and it was as wild as everyone expected it to be. At least 40,000 rap fans of all ages and races flooded the park each day to turn up to the plethora of artists featured on the extensive playbill. Artists like Mac Miller, Playboi Carti, 21 Savage, Gucci Mane, Migos, Run The Jewels, Lil Uzi Vert and plenty more all made the fans go crazy.
Everyone in attendance, including the fans watching at home, nearly lost their minds when Kendrick Lamar stood tall as the highlight of the weekend. However, there were a number of moments that gave us enough life during the Miami weekend.
Here are five stand-out moments from Rolling Loud 2017.
1. A$AP Rocky shows us how crowd-surfing is supposed to be done
The audience was dense with eager fans ready to see A$AP Rocky close out the first day of Rolling Loud. Once he opened up with “L$D,” Rocky couldn’t help getting turnt all the way up during his set. After performing songs like “Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2”and “Shabba Ranks,” the sea of fans were prepared for any madness Rocky decided to pursue, but they weren’t ready for who Rocky had backstage. The A$AP Mob founder brought out Lil Yachty and XXXTentacion to crowd surf while X performed his song “Look At Me!” Everyone had their turn to surf especially Yachty, who went into full-on Lil Boat mode as he glided across the fans with a bottle of Hennessy in his hand. As the weekend progressed, numerous artists took time out of their sets to try and ride the wave, but no one could top Rocky, Yachty and Triple-X’s crowd-surfing skills.
2. The first ladies of Rolling Loud made an impact we won’t forget
When Rolling Loud first revealed the major lineup for 2017, the festival’s organizers DOPE Ent were hit with backlash after zero women were listed on the playbill, and no, Yes Julz does not count since she’s not an artist in any way. Their critic’s skeptic stance changed real quick once the lineup was updated to include performances from Dreezy, singer Teenear, and Polly A. Dreezy hit the crowd with their favorite jams like “Body” while singers like Slip N Slide singer Teenear and GhettoGoldDream singer Polly A hit the crowd with their popular singles. All three hit the stage early in the day but were able to battle the scorching heat to put on for all the ladies in the building. They all contributed to breaking the mold for not just Rolling Loud but for any hip-hop based music festival, which have a tendency for leaving women out of the equation. Hopefully, this year’s performers will encourage more women to perform at Rolling Loud in the future.
3. Mosh pits were a common theme at nearly every set.
If you’ve ever been caught up in a mosh pit and got an adrenaline rush from surviving the chaos, then you would’ve loved Rolling Loud’s bountiful mosh pits that formed for nearly every set throughout the weekend. Rappers performing at both the Postmates and Monster Energy stages like Wifisfuneral, Denzel Curry, Playboi Carti, Travis Scott, and especially XXXTentacion all told their fans to open up and make space to jump around in an unruly fashion. During his set on Day 2, Triple-X saw the crowd going crazy when they sent water bottles and garbage cans flying in the air, but he wouldn’t perform his infamous song “Look At Me!” unless the mosh pits were raging. Travis Scott didn’t even have to tell the crowd what to do. His ear-splitting vocals over booming 808’s were enough to act as the official signal to form the reckless circle and mosh like their lives depended on it.
4. Chief Keef kept us lit despite his outstanding warrant in Miami
Before Rolling Loud commenced, TMZ claimed the Miami PD issued a warrant for Chief Keef’s arrest after he missed his court hearing on May 2 regarding his first arrest in Miami Beach a few weeks ago. But that didn’t Sosa from going out on stage to perform anyways. Before his set, Chief Keef was asked if he cared about performing with the warrant out and he simply responded “Come and get me.” The Chicago rapper began his set with rapper Ballout to perform “Been Ballin” as well as other fan favorites like “Love Sosa” and “Faneto.” He lasted through his entire set without any trouble and even had the balls to scream “Fuck the police” before he left. At presstime, there had been no reports that police picked up Keef after his performance, but the fact that Sosa risked it all to give his fans a memorable show and secure the bag is inspiring.
5. YG & Travis Scott prove the festival’s sets were crazy, but the fans were even more wild
REVOLT’s live stream gave fans at home a glimpse of what the crowds were like during each set, but what they didn’t see were just how insane a lot of the concert goers became throughout the weekend. Aside from the conductors of the multiple mosh pits, the more reckless fans were towards the back climbing trees to secure a better view of the madness at the Postmates stage. As the immense cloud of marijuana rose above the mob of attendees, people began to jump up in order to crowd surf. During YG’s set for Day 3, the Bompton rapper had all the girls who were above the crowd on someone’s shoulders flashing the stage. During Travis Scott’s closing performance, a fan made his way on stage with him. When security was going to throw him out, Travis brought him to center stage and threw him into the crowd and kept the show going. While the artists curate the vibes, the fans are the ones who really make any festival great, but Rolling Loud’s fans have to be the craziest of them all.