Recap: hip-hop stars hit the stage at Rolling Loud 2025
From the early hours of the afternoon to almost midnight, Los Angeles beamed as hip-hop music lovers from all over the world came for a two-day festival filled with music, attractions and culture: this is Rolling Loud. The Rolling Loud festival stages have seen some of the biggest names in the hip-hop industry in addition to rising artists, bringing unforgettable moments and memories for fans.
Rolling Loud is an international hip-hop music festival taking place in the United States, Australia, Asia and Europe. This year, it returned to Inglewood, California, on March 15-16 and welcomed big-name artists like A$AP Rocky and Playboi Carti, but also featured smaller artists like Nettspend and untiljapan. The weekend was filled with more than just seeing the performers – it was about community and culture, bringing people from all over together for the love of hip-hop music.
Day One
Flooded by the smell of bacon-wrapped hot dogs, grilled onions and jalapeños, Rolling Loud festival goers rushed towards the main entrance to scan their wristbands and pass through the security checkpoint on day one.
Entering the Hollywood Park grounds in Inglewood, CA, attendees were greeted with a landscape view of the Rivers Lake, where groups of friends and couples pose for photos. As they walked further into the grounds, the music got louder and louder, and in the span of just a short walk, they stepped foot into the world’s largest hip-hop festival, Rolling Loud.
With the massive SoFi Stadium building on one side and the Kia Forum on the other, an entire music festival surrounded them with three main stages at the Rolling Loud festival: the D’ussé Stage, Zig=Zag Stage and the GoPuff as the main set stage with a stacked lineup.
On Saturday, March 15, the main headliner of the night at the GoPuff Stage was A$AP Rocky, but leading up to his 9:30 p.m. set performance was first-time Rolling Loud performer, Gelo.
LiAngelo Ball, otherly known as Gelo, initially began his career on basketball courts alongside his brothers Lonzo and LaMelo Ball, who are now NBA players. But a suspension from UCLA for shoplifting during a team trip in 2017 impacted his path to becoming an NBA player like his brothers.
Shifting gears towards a music career, Gelo released his first single “Tweaker,” on Feb. 26, 2025, which became an overnight sensation as the track gained popularity from NBA players selecting the song as a new anthem, and led to him setting foot on new territory, the Rolling Loud GoPuff Stage.
With its catchy verse, “I might swerve, bend that corner, whoa,” Gelo performed the song “Tweaker,” not once, but twice for the crowd to catch on to his contagious verse and personality on stage, ending his set at 5:05 p.m.
The following act was Ski Mask The Slump God, who was 20 minutes late to his 5:15 p.m. set and started a trend for the rest of the evening performers’ set times to be delayed.
Before his performance, the Black Music Action Coalition went onto the stage to pay tribute to those affected by the LA wildfires earlier this year.
“We watched the wildfires destroy many cities! People lost their homes, they lost their cars, they lost their business! But the one thing that they didn’t lose, is their hope! They didn’t lose their resilience! They didn’t lose their spirit!” said one of the coalition members on the GoPuff stage to a supportive crowd.
Ski Mask The Slump God’s set was a roller coaster of emotions as he played iconic 2018 hit songs like “BabyWipe,” “Faucet Failure” and “How You Feel,” as he brought out Danny Towers to rap his verse, and paid tribute to legendary performers and his dear friends, XXXTentacion and JuiceWrld.
“I’m here on behalf of my brother XXXTentacion and my brother Juice Wrld,” Ski Mask said to the crowd and screamed into the microphone, “so we’re going to f*** sh** up.”
Ski Mask played songs of XXX Tentacion that got the crowd riled up and forming mosh pits, to the emotionally wrecking song “Jocelyn Flores.” The song’s namesake is dedicated to a deceased friend of X who suffered from depression and committed suicide, and the performance left the crowd wiping tears that dripped down their cheeks.
Jahseh Onfroy, who went by the artist name of XXXTentacion, was fatally shot at 20 years old in June 2018, just three months after releasing his “?” album in March 2018. The following year in December 2019, Jarad Anthony Higgins, known as Juice Wrld, died of a drug overdose at 21 years old, a week before he was set to perform at the 2019 Rolling Loud festival.
The tragic passing of the two rappers left a lasting impact on the hip-hop community, where artists like Ski Mask continue to pay tribute to them and continue their legacy.
His set concluded with “Look At Me!” by XXXTentacion and ‘baddie energy’ emerged as Sexyy Red’s Hoochie Babies — as her fans call themselves — were ready for her to take over the main stage.
Her hour-long set was filled with her signature ad-libs, dancers twerking on stage and her continuously calling out “where my shootas at.” There wasn’t a dull moment where the crowd wasn’t rapping or dancing along with her.
“This song got me out the trenches with you all, so I need y’all to sing along,” Sexyy Red said. She then started a verse a cappella, “it goes a little something like this, ‘I’m outta town, thuggin’ with my rounds.”
The Hoochie Babies finished the lyrics and the beats to the 2023 hit single “Pound Town,” bled through the speakers. Then Sexyy Red brought out 03 Greedo for “Sweet Lady,” performed her newest collaboration release “Fat Juicy & Wet,” and finished her set with the iconic track,
“Skeeyee.”
One of the most anticipated attendances of the night to land on Rolling Loud grounds was Peso Pluma, who was the first non-hip-hop artist to step into the spotlight as the crowd chanted his name to commence his set.
Peso Pluma delivered a unique performance as he solely spoke in Spanish, brought out a live banda and dancers in raven black fits to perform alongside him as he opened up the show with “gervonta,” taking attendees experience the high energy of corridos tumbados and the cultural richness of la Raza.
Peso Pluma took a short break after performing his first song, gazing at the crowd as they continued to chant his name, and then transitioned to “AMG,” by screaming “Vamonos a la v*** viejo.”
His set was filled with Mexican love and pride as he called for “viva Mexico,” or “arriba los corridos,” and switched his sound to reggaeton with the track “La Bebe,” and brought out El Alfa to perform “Plebada.”
Peso Pluma brought out an additional three special guests: Eladio Carrion to perform “77,” from the “Genesis” album, Rich the Kid for the track off of the “Éxodo” album, “Gimme A Second,” and a spontaneous surprise with Ty Dolla $ign where he and Rich the Kid performed “Carnival,” a song from Kanye West’s “Vultures 1” album.
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PIN ITPeso Pluma ended his spotlight with the single “Rari,”— which he dropped just two days before the festival — screaming his first name “Peso” for the crowd to finish his chant, “Pluma.”
After such a dynamic performance, Peso Pluma set the precedent for A$AP Rocky’s crowd as Rocky was set to close day one of Rolling Loud. However, as time went on, the GoPuff stage became lifeless.
After an hour delay, at 10:30 p.m., a sudden rush of excitement appeared as Rihanna, in a black dress and coat, waited alongside attendees for A$AP Rocky to come out onto the stage.
The crowd began singing bits of Rihanna’s songs, shouting “shine bright like a diamond” and “oh nah nah, what’s my name,” to keep themselves occupied. Suddenly, the entire stage grounds turned pitch black and video clips from A$AP Rocky’s time in court appeared on screen.
Rakim Mayers, known as A$AP Rocky or Pretty Flacko, spent about a month in trial beginning on Jan. 24, and was found not guilty on Feb. 18, for two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, where he could have faced two decades in prison, ultimately ruining his entire career.
Everyone’s heads starred up towards the sky, as A$AP Rocky finally made a casual appearance in a black helicopter hovering over the crowd with the title of his upcoming album, Don’t Be Dumb written on it and initiated his performance of an unreleased track that’s set to appear in his upcoming album, “All Black.”
Descending from the helicopter to the stage, was an electrifying presence as attendees were the first to hear unreleased tracks from the “Don’t Be Dumb,” album that has yet to have a set release date. Each track generated waves of excitement and hype as the night became a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for A$AP Rocky fans.
His set also included hits like “A$AP Forever,” “Riot,” to “Praise The Lord(Da Shine),” which he performed live with Skepta for the duet song, with a raging set filled with flames and the American flag as a motif.
The set design shifted to a podium and a flag pole, which eventually got destroyed as A$AP Rocky began tearing down his set to “Lord Pretty Flacko Joyde 2,” as he ended day one of Rolling Loud with an hour-long delay, his set cut short to being 45 minutes long and only performing 13 songs.
As the GoPuff stage went from rowdy to pitch black, the crowd charted over to the nearest exit, where they met with vendors attempting to sell merch or the tempting hot dogs on their wheeled crates.
The night ended with festival goers taking a cold walk back to their cars or getting picked up by a driver, to get as much rest as they could as they had to do the Rolling Loud experience for a second day in a row.
Day Two
The air was heavy with a sense of eagerness and impatience as Rolling Loud festival goers surged the Hollywood Park grounds almost immediately for the second day. From the opening at noon, the general admissions section at the GoPuff stage was packed to the railing, which only increased in size by the hour. It wasn’t the typical impatient crowd, but a massive, growing mob all awaiting the artists that were scheduled to play in front of them, like Destroy Lonely, Ken Carson and Playboi Carti.
While some may call it Rolling Loud day two, others gave it the name of “Opium Sunday,” a tribute to Carti’s self-founded record label created in 2019. Some of the artists scheduled for Sunday were Homixide Gang, Destroy Lonely, Ken Carson and Playboi Carti, all falling under Carti’s label, Opium.
Before LA native Jason Jamal Jackson, or 03 Greedo, took the stage, the mayor of Inglewood, James T. Butts Jr., gave a brief speech on the GoPuff stage to the Rolling Loud crowd at around 4 p.m. He listed items such as football championship rings, a WWE championship belt, pictures with Mohammed Ali and a trophy room among his prized possessions, but proudly noted how many people “stop and look at” his “Rolling Loud chain.” With support from co-founder of Rolling Loud, Tariq Cherif, on stage, Mayor Butts publicly welcomed festival-goers to Inglewood, by then leading the crowd to repeat his chant of “Ingle-WOOD!”
From shirts with just his name to black dunce caps, a double cone-shaped hat almost resembling ears, a plethora of Playboi Carti fans roamed the festival. While he was not set to take the stage until 9:30 p.m., the minds of attendees were geared towards Carti’s anticipated performance. However, some festival goers like Monique bought a ticket to see artists like YG, 03 Greedo and Dom Kennedy.
“I’m too old for that,” Monique said about not attending Carti’s performance
Right after the first beat at around 5 p.m., festival goers ran to the GoPuff stage to catch the performance by Homixide Gang. Almost like a command, the duo cued attendees to their show through the blends of hardcore rage rap and heavy metal rock that was bumping through the speakers. The energy of the crowd radiated throughout the festival grounds as the hands and bodies of thousands of people jumped up and down throughout their nine-song set, with songs like “Lifestyle” and “R50.” Homixide Gang closed their show with their 2021 song “5unna.”
The crowd’s spirits and their urge to mosh continued to increase once Destroy Lonely came out on stage about an hour after Homixide Gang.
Opening with his song “FOREVER,” the crowd continued to shake the festival grounds and keep the energy high. But halfway through his set, the GoPuff stage crowd was repeatedly advised to take a step back, as many were being dangerously pushed against the railing. Destroy Lonely additionally advised the crowd during the pause to back up a couple of steps for their safety.
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PIN ITTowards the end of his set, Destroy Lonely performed his hit song “NOSTYLIST,” which gained popularity on TikTok in 2022. He closed out with “if looks could kill,” and “NEVEREVER.”
Earlier that day, Rolling Loud made a surprise announcement of a last-minute addition to the lineup. Soulja Boy was set to play at the Zig Zag stage at 6:50 p.m. He went on right before LA rapper, Blxst.
At around 7:20 p.m., the GoPuff stage attracted even more people, filling up almost every inch of this section of Hollywood Park. Audience members conversed with each other, waiting to mosh during the next highly awaited performer.
Soon, the stage was taken over by fire and the shrieks of Ken Carson, who riled up the crowd with his opening song, “ss.” The performance kept audience members on their feet while they jostled their bodies together amongst the lasers and smoke from the stage’s smoke machines. Carson performed hits like “Yale” and “overseas,” eventually abruptly closing his 16-song set with “Fighting My Demons.”
While given an hour to cool off from the Ken Carson performance high, attendees at the GoPuff stage anxiously waited for Carti. They eagerly and carefully watched for any signs of the performer as the stage was being set up. But nearing almost 9:30 p.m., the stage went black and the cheering of thousands filled the LA air – King Vamp, aka Playboi Carti, entered the GoPuff premises.
The rapper came out with an intense and high-energy opening to his new song “POP OUT” from his recently released album, “MUSIC.” This is Cart’s first album in five years since the 2020 album, “Whole Lotta Red.” “MUSIC” originally consisted of 30 tracks, but Carti released a deluxe edition of the album, “MUSIC – SORRY 4 DA WAIT,” with 34 songs on Tuesday.
The crowd, filled with Carti fans, who call themselves “Vamps,” instantly began screaming the lyrics, even though “MUSIC” had only been released two days before his Rolling Loud performance. Carti could be seen wearing his new merchandise for the new album – a white tee with the words “I AM MUSIC” plastered over it.
Throughout his performance, Carti delivered hit songs like “Stop Breathing” and “Sky” from “Whole Lotta Red.” However, most of his set was dedicated to his new songs from “MUSIC,” like “MOJO JOJO” and “EVIL J0RDAN,” making the Rolling Loud audience the first to experience it live.
The floor beneath the crowd vibrated with the force of heavy bass and the collective energy of people jumping in sync. But at around 10 p.m., the show was stopped after the crowd shoving forward and barreling into each other resulted in 10 people fainting, according to an announcement by organizers.
“Everybody, we need y’all to move back three feet. We gotta keep this safe, everybody,” was repeatedly voiced to the crowd for about 20 minutes as medics assisted audience members in need.
Organizers also told the crowd over the loudspeakers that they would pay any curfew fines that they would face so Carti could play his entire set, which settled the crowd.
Once the show was back up and running, Carti surprised fans by bringing out The Weeknd to perform their songs “RATHER LIE” from “MUSIC,” and “Timeless” from The Weeknd’s newest album, “Hurry Up Tomorrow.” A community formed on stage, with Skepta to perform “TOXIC,” Kai Cenat and even festival co-founder Tariq Cherif, who danced around throughout Carti’s closing performance for Rolling Loud. The rapper later on played crowd favorites like “FE!N,” “Location” and “Long Time – Intro,” which he ended with.
Day two of Rolling Loud ended with Carti’s unforgettable performance for fans almost an hour after the expected festival end time due to the delays during his performance. To stay updated on future Rolling Loud festivals, visit its official website.
