It’s definitely no secret that on its own, Miami is a cultural powerhouse. Pair that power house with a massive hip hop music festival and you have a recipe for greatness.
Rolling Loud, a 2-year-old hip-hop festival, took place May 5-7 at Bayfront Park in Downtown Miami. This was the festival’s first year being held at Bayfront (last year it was held in Wynwood) and the change of venue did wonders.
The festival had two stages, the Postmates stage and the Monster Energy Stage. This Rolling Loud review will focus more on the performances at the Postmates stage.
Featuring the likes of Future, Travis Scott, A$AP Rocky, Lil Yachty, Mac Miller, 21 Savage (pictured below), Migos, Lil Wayne and so many others, this festival claimed its throne as a hip-hop force to be reckoned with. Like every new festival, however, there were some shortcomings to be mentioned. For one, set times.
While I do admit most of this probably had to do with the artists, there was some trouble with set times on Sunday. Migos were set to perform at the festival’s Monster Energy stage and was rescheduled indefinitely because the crowd was “too rowdy.” Then, some 20 minutes later, Migos popped up unannounced at the Postmates stage, causing thousands of Migos fans to miss their first few songs as they rushed over to catch the set.
I will say, although the mix up was bothersome, Migos definitely made up for it by delivering one hell of a set even bringing out trap legend, Gucci Mane to help them perform their hit “Slippery.”
While at the festival, it felt like there was always a surprise coming at every turn. Whether it was one rapper bringing another on stage or someone being forcibly removed from the crowd, Rolling Loud was definitely unpredictable.
So unpredictable in fact that in the middle of his set, Lil Uzi Vert ran through the crowd, scaled up a 20-foot roof and jumped off, only to land safely in the arms of the crowd. Even when he wasn't jumping off a roof and violently crowd surfing, it was hard to tear your eyes away from Lil Uzi as he performed.
XXXTentacion also left an impression after jumping into the crowd and getting stuck in it for 20 minutes. Once he finally got out, he realized his phone had been taken and offered $1,000 on the spot to whoever returned it.
While there were a lot of show-stopping moments at Rolling Loud, at the end of the day, the festival really was all about the music. Performers like Mac Miller and Joey Bada$$ (pictured below) delivered some memorable performances while leaving out some of the flare that their fellow rappers leaned on.
Future was the last performer to grace the Postmates Stage at Rolling Loud and he was definitely a good pick as a show closer. He played all of his fan favorites and definitely got the crowd hyped up.
Best performance of the festival by far went to Kendrick Lamar. After the drop of his highly anticipated album, Kendrick really delivered at Rolling Loud. He not only played most of the songs off his new album but also took it back and played some of his fan favorites. The Postmates stage was filled to the brim with people just trying to get a glimpse of the rap legend. 
As for the basics of a festival: stages, food, restrooms, drinks, etc. Rolling Loud has some work to do if they want to matchup to some of the festival greats, however, they had some fire Arepas sold all around the grounds. For a new festival, or really any festival, I give Rolling Loud a big A and I will definitely be attending next year (especially if the line up is as amazing as it was this year).
