Earlier this month, I road tripped down to Miami for the annual Rolling Loud Music Festival. This was my second time attending. I had such a good experience last year that I decided that it was definitely worth it to go back - especially since it was the 5th year anniversary, and they promised it would be the best year thus far. The headliners included major names such as the Migos, Travis Scott, Cardi B, Kid Cudi, Lil Uzi, Lil Wayne, and virtually anyone else relevant in the hip hop industry at the moment. From Lil Nas with one hit song to DMX, an OG, there were a variety of familiar faces taking the stage.

However, since I went last year, I had my expectations set kind of high this time. Unfortunately, I feel like the Rolling Loud team may have just missed the mark this year. There were definitely amazing performances, and I will have good memories to look back on... but it just wasn't nearly as good as last year.

I'd say what disappointed me the most was feeling unsafe the entire time during a 3-day festival. Most of the things that happened were out of Rolling Loud's control, but they did a pretty crappy job at restoring peace and trying to make everyone feel comfortable again. There were two false alarms of an active shooter. First during Cardi B and another during Travis Scott. As you can imagine, running for your life during two major headliners isn't a fun way to spend your time at a music festival. It is natural for things to be quite rowdy at Rolling Loud like mosh pits and random fights. But this year, it was more like stampedes of people running, getting trampled, and everyone yelling "gun!! there's a shooter!!" Let me tell you when you see police with bulletproof vest with guns in hand running all over, it's super hard to snap back into enjoying a festival. It wasn't just running and screaming either. People were knocking fences over and climbing gates in fear of losing their lives.

All and all, the disappointing part was that the people in charge didn't do enough to make sure everyone knew everything was okay. After the first false alarm, they pretty much told everyone to just calm down and continued the show. The second time it happened, they didn't address it whatsoever. Shortly after, Travis Scott's sound completely went out and it really seemed like we were all in harm. The energy and tension was so unsettling that it was almost impossible to enjoy his set. Yet, none of it was addressed. They also repeatedly continued to shoot fireworks, which sounds A LOT like gunshots to someone who was just in a panic about a shooter. There were many people who ran out and left and/or ending up immediately selling their wristbands because of it. I will say after the first two days of it happening, the Miami-Dade police were constantly circling the festival in a helicopter... and I guess that made it feel safer?

Another thing that disappointed me was the lack of special guest and absence of some performers on the lineup. Last year, almost every song that had a feature with a performer that was also present (or even sometimes not on the lineup), both performers would perform that song. I loved Rolling Loud so much in 2018 for that very reason. I got to see some of my favorite songs performed by all of the people involved. This year, there wasn't much of that going on. For example, Playboy Carti performed "Woke Up Like This" alone, which features Lil Uzi. Following his set, Lil Uzi performed the exact same song without Playboy Carti. Considering their sets were back to back, would it have been that hard to get them to do at least one song together? Young Thug, Gunna, and Lil Baby were just about the only people that actually came out for each other's songs. The special guests were people like King Combs and Meek Mill - two people who were on the lineup last year, so it wasn't even anyone new. Also, Kodak Black was arrested before the festival and did not perform. Lil Wayne did not show up for the second year in a row. Rick Ross performed but was arrested afterward. Young Thug and NBA Young Boy were both shot at in Miami. This has led many to believe that Rolling Loud is a trap for performers, and I have a feeling that many won't want to participate in the following years.

I am no expert, but I feel like Rolling Loud sold too many tickets this year. There were way too many people, so that resulted in long lines for things like the water stations or the bathroom. There was also a delay due to inclement weather which threw all of the set times off, and even the updated set times were incorrect. Almost every single artist was late to their set as well. Rolling Loud's excuse was "it's a hip hop festival, what do you expect?"

Nonetheless, there were things I did enjoy. They stepped up in art installations and things you could take pictures with if you're into that. Kid Cudi's performance was top notch. I'd say almost every performance last year was of that caliber. I also enjoyed Megan thee Stallion, Young M.A., Rae Sremmurd, Gunna, Lil Baby, NBA Youngboy. and Kevin Gates.

Ultimately, I really don't think I will be going back next year. They would have to have an insane lineup for me to even have the desire to reinsert myself into that kind of chaos. You may catch me at Bonnaroo or Okeechobee next year instead.