Rolling Loud, one of the largest and most popular music festivals in the entire nation just took place a few weeks ago on March 15 and 16.  The festival, which is primarily a hip hop festival but has since expanded, has just hosted its 8th Southern California venture in Los Angeles, with the headliners being A$ap Rocky and Playboi Carti, and Peso Pluma as their special guest.

Although the name Rolling Loud may not ring a bell for many parents or adults, the now multi-continental festival has been one of the biggest music events among rap fans for the last few years.  Rolling Loud was originally founded in 2015 by lifelong friends Tariq Cherif and Matt Zingler, who hosted parties and music festivals throughout the Miami area.  As time went, the Rolling Loud team and festivals expanded, eventually finding its way into Southern California in 2017, hosting the event in San Bernardino.  After finding success, the event found itself as an extremely important platform for new uprising artists in the “Soundcloud Rap” scene that was taking over 2017-2019.  This expansion of location as well as the rise of artists in these years were the perfect formula for the rapid growth of Rolling Loud Festivals which were soon to arise around the world.

This leads us to the weekend of March 15, 2025, a cool weekend for Hollywood Park, where well over 60 thousand fans came to see their favorite artists.  On the main stage of Day 1, fans were presented with a long awaited performance by A$AP Rocky, who had not done a live performance in California since Smoker’s Club 2022.  Rocky started the show performing on top of a mock helicopter, and continued the performance using real life elements, one of which even alluding to his arrest less than two months ago.  Although Rocky showed much appreciation and emotion on stage, by paying homage to the late A$AP YAMS, and speaking on his gratitude for his fans, many attendees expressed their complaints on the performance, as Rocky not only showed up to the stage an hour late, but cut his performance short as well.  In conclusion, the performance was received with mix reviewed online as many longtime A$AP MOB fans appreciated the respects that were given to YAMS while many fans were upset and disappointed from the heavy reliance of unreleased music and 45 minute performance which journalist and attendee Mark Ortega shared his opinion expressing how the performance was “ way too short for a main stage festival headliner to be performing.”

Earlier in the day, Rolling Loud Fans experienced an important moment for the history of Rolling Loud, the first non-hip hop performer Peso Pluma got on the main stage Saturday night to perform his set.  Not only was this outreach of genre extremely popular, but also gave Rolling Loud a massive opportunity to expand its audience. 

On the second and final day, more history was made throughout the day on the GoPuff (Main) stage at Rolling Loud that night.  After fans got to enjoy another day of activities such as free tattoos, free haircuts, food stations, new merch drops from their favorite brands and more, they got to see artists who have been on the rise in extremely large numbers, such as Destroy Lonely and Ken Carson.  The D’Ussé Stage (second stage) was a mecca for underground hip-hop lovers, with artists like Nettspend, Molly Santana, Skaiwater, DC the Don, Che and more, getting the crowd excited for a highly anticipated set later in the night.  The end and climax of the night started off with Playboi Carti performing his brand new album “MUSIC”, which fans had been waiting for for nearly 5 years.  From “POP OUT” to “Long Time” Carti provided the fans with an emotional, high energy hour and 45 minute delivery of what they had been anticipating for so long.  Playboi Carti also brought out surprise guests The Weekend and Skepta, who featured on the album to perform its first real live stage performance with him. The Weeknd’s guest appearance was a monumental occasion in Rolling Loud history, with it being his first time appearing on the festival’s stage. Streamer Kai Cenat was also invited on stage by Playboi Carti himself, and live streamed the entire set, showing scenes of himself embracing The Weeknd and Rolling Loud co-founder and co-CEO Tariq Cherif. Actor and star of the Rolling Loud movie Owen Wilson was also spotted at Playboi Carti’s set with Rolling Loud co-founder and co-CEO Matt Zingler, celebrating the close to a successful weekend.