As 40,000 people descended on Biscayne Boulevard and packed the streets of downtown Miami, the third annual run of Rolling Loud had much to deliver.
Back in February, we praised the festival for it’s star-studded lineup. With rap titans Kendrick Lamar and Future at the helm, Rolling Loud seemed to book every up and coming, relevant rap act to fill out the undercard. This wasn’t to say that the lineup was without controversy.
The bill went through several shuffles in the weeks leading up due to legal troubles from several artists. While artists Xxxtentacion and Chief Keef stayed on despite being in jail in previous weeks, Kodak Black and Kevin Gates sets were cancelled as they both remain behind bars. With the festival all but sold out, organizers weren’t obligated to react to this. They did, however, swapping out the up-and-comers with established west-coast rapper YG and the Atlanta legend Gucci Mane.
While its lineup was unquestionable, the festival had much to build on from previous years. Previously, the festival was housed in Soho Studios in Wynwood, a venue that only held a couple thousand. This was a perfect fit for the original, small market lineup.
The boost in star power prompted the switch to Bayfront Park, which is situated next to the Miami Pavilion and American Airlines Arena.
A Friday afternoon approach towards the waterfront shown the first signs of trouble for Rolling Loud 2017.
Festival organizers erected 10-foot walls that surrounded the park, all donning large ‘Rolling Loud’ banners. Alongside these, thousands waited in a line that spanned several blocks down Biscayne as ticket takers tried to flush in a crowd four times bigger than any held at previous years. The line was a result of issues with wristbands scanning, a problem that plagued the festival all weekend.
With such a star-studded lineup, little was expected in terms of festival presentation. Organizers however blew away expectations here. Large oaks that pop up throughout the park were decorated in various light setups, adding to the neon glow already pulsing throughout downtown Miami. The buildings that served as the backdrop to the Postmates stage, Rolling Loud’s main stage were also lit up at night, with either rotating color displays or full on light shows like the Inter Continental building that turned each of its windows into a coordinated LED show.
With its façade in check, it was time for the highly anticipated lineup to do its part. Friday kicked off with a slew of underground rappers who played throughout the day. As the sun dipped below the buildings, the headliners began to spill out onto the main stages. Mac Miller ran through a bevy of hits, a large portion of which came from his latest album The Divine Feminine while Lil Yachty, on the opposite stage, showed fans he’s still in good spirits after his heated debate with Joe Budden.
Friday night, however, belonged to none other than A$AP Rocky, who played the largest stage at the same set time as Lil’ Wayne. With hits like “L$D,” “Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye” and “Multiply,” Rocky quickly sent the crowd of over 30,000 into a mosh-pit frenzy. The second half of his set, however, served more so as an A$AP Mob party rather than a Rocky show. After bringing out Flatbush Zombies, Rocky also invited the entire A$AP mob up on stage along with Lil Yachty and Xxxtentacion. The latter two and Rocky were often found crowd surfing with a sporadic laser/pyro show behind them.
Saturday had perhaps the most anticipation, with headliner Kendrick Lamar set to perform at the Postmates stage. Early in the day, the can’t miss event was Chief Keef. The embattled rapper had been in the news in days prior as it was announced that the Miami PD had a warrant out for his arrest. The rapper tweeted out shortly after, “Tell em’ to come get me”, spelling trouble for his Saturday performance. Nevertheless, he appeared on stage for his 4:45 p.m. set time and it went without incident.
The rest of the night building up to Kendrick featured strong performances from Action Bronson, Joey Bada$$, and Run the Jewels, who recently stopped at Jannus Live in January.
As 10 p.m. rolled around, the majority of the 40,000 plus made their way to the Postmates stage to see ‘Kung Fu Kenny.’
The Compton-based rapper came out to an explosion of lights and bars as he sped his way through his latest hit ‘DNA’ for the opener. The rest of his set he showed off his now extensive catalog of hits. Whether it was from his new LP DAMN. or either of his two Grammy-nominated albums (Good Kid Ma.a.d City, To Pimp A Butterfly), Kendrick led the crowd as they sung, rapped, and screamed every word. One of the more awe-inspiring moments of the set was when he played his song “Pride,” which had fans who were packed in from the front all the way to the back fence raising their phones in the air and singing along in a bellowing chorus. By the time he brought the house down with his last song “Humble”, Kendrick Lamar had already cemented himself as one of the most notable performances in Rolling Loud’s three-year history. His performance was not only a spectacle, but a showcase from the self proclaimed “number one rapper in the world.”
The first two days Rolling Loud showed signs of strain from the intense demands of such a large crowd, but day three found it all bursting at the seams. Lines grew as crowds began to pour in for late-addition Gucci Mane., Patrons were held up at all of the three security checkpoints they were required to pass to get in. Wristband issues and confusion over bags, which led to many purses and backpacks being cut or thrown away, bred an increasing hostility between the staff and guests. In many cases this ended in shouting matches between the two.
This issue of “festival organizers vs. festival goers” boiled over at the Monster Energy stage around the time of the Migos set. With the Atlanta trio set to perform at 6:40 p.m., fans crowded the smaller of the two stages to the point of overcapacity. With fans bulging from the pit to the back sidewalks, DJ’s came on the stage to inform fans that Migos had been ‘postponed’ because the crowd was ‘too wild.’
This led to a chorus of boos from the crowd, who began to engage with the DJ announcing the news. To make matters worse, the DJ (whose name we could not find) began to call out specific fans in the audience and shout expletives at them. It made for a particularly bad moment on the third day of an otherwise enthralling festival.
The scene culminated with organizers ultimately cancelling the Migos set at the Monster Energy stage, and then moving them to other stage without announcing it to the fans waiting for them at the Monster stage.
The disarray then furthered as Post Malone, who was originally supposed to come out at 8:05, was a half hour late. The initial excitement to his arrival was quickly doused as it became apparent that his mic wasn’t turned on, an issue he didn’t realize until halfway through his first song. As he began to run through the hits off his platinum-certified Stoney album the crowd, many of which who had not seen any performances in two hours, became less antagonized, if only for a moment. As Post Malone was finishing his last song, “White Iverson”, organizers cut off his mic due to time constraints. This led to outrage not only from the crowd, but the artist himself, as Post Malone ripped off his mic and jumped into the crowd in protest. Again, a bad lasting image for a festival attempting to make a name for itself.
While the Postmates stage had Lil Uzi Vert jumping off a 20 ft sound tent and Future to end the night, Travis Scott rightfully closed out the festival in a way only he could on the Monster Energy Stage. Notorious for his raucous and engaging live performances, many shuffled in for a chance to catch the Houston rapper crowd surfing. Throughout the set Scott mustered energy out of a day three crowd as only he could, encouraging fans to climb on stage and jump off. Half way through his set, he even attempted to reward fans for their robbed Migos set by bringing them out for several songs. Together they performed “Kelly Price”, with group member Quavo also lending vocals on the songs “Portland” and “Pick Up the Phone.”
While the infrastructure and preparedness of the festival left much to be desired, Rolling Loud was a success due to their ability to snag the biggest names in the hip-hop genre. While organizers were met with numerous issues throughout the three days, this should only be encouraging to a festival so young and so bold. The disorganization and confusion was to be expected with such a jump in capacity and talent. Now it’s up to organizers to build on a year that many considered the ‘Best Rap Lineup Ever.’
With any luck, they’ll be able to fix a few kinks and help return an exuberant hip-hop spectacle to Biscayne Bay next year.
