Photo by Priscilla Rodriguez @priscillapple / Rolling Loud
After the past two days of electrifying performances, the crowd at Rolling Loud’s Day 3 was buzzing with anticipation for the closing acts of the festival. Now veterans, Neel and I entered Hollywood Park with ease and made a beeline for the main stage. With the promise of the amazing sets to come, we reached the Ethika Stage eager to make the most of Rolling Loud’s final chapter.
Chief Keef – Savannah Ellerson
Just two days after the release of his newest album, Dirty Nachos, featuring production by Mike WiLL Made-It, Chief Keef took the main stage on Rolling Loud’s final day.
The Chicago-born rapper started off the set with high energy with his 2015 classic, “War”. He seamlessly blended into his next track of the set, “Faneto”. “Faneto” is known widely to hype the crowd up, and that’s exactly what it did. From the moment the familiar drums kicked in, I, alongside many other fans began jumping, moshing, and screaming the lyrics. It was around this song that we realized it wasn’t just Chief Keef on stage, but an entire group of his friends. They too were dancing and jumping around, which I feel brought a certain level of joy to the set. Most people in the crowd came to enjoy music among friends, and it seemed that Chief Keef was doing the same.
There was one special friend the rapper also brought out about halfway through his set. With a smirk, Chief Keef murmured into the mic, “Sexy” before we heard “It’s Sexy” from an all too familiar voice from behind the stage. Sexyy Red walked on stage with a swagger, rapping her song “Bow Bow Bow (F My Baby Dad)” off her second and latest album Hood Hottest Princess. Chief Keef jumped into his verse, repeating “Fuck my baby mama” with a newfound power in his voice that had been lacking in the first few songs. Following, Sexyy performed her breakout song “Skeeyee”, but with the added twist of support from Chief Keef, who replicated the crowd in singing along to all the lyrics—especially the “skeeyee” part.
To close out the set, Chief Keef brought the focus back onto his powerful discography. He ended his time on the Rolling Loud stage with “Love Sosa”, which had the crowd jumping and bass playing in a way that literally had my body vibrating. While a lot of the set felt like watching a party of friends sing along with each other, the rapper had some standout moments such as performing with Sexyy Red that made sure the crowd stayed entertained.
Ski Mask the Slump God – Praneel Bonthala
After briefly seeing him stroll through the press compound earlier in the day, I was excited to see what Ski Mask had to offer the crowd. With an extensive discography of popular released and unreleased tracks, his performance had the potential to shock the crowd. Running out onto the stage amidst vivacious cheers, Ski Mask instantly jumped into his unreleased track “Geek Up”, which had the crowd bustling in a burst of exhilaration.
Unreleased tracks weren’t Ski Mask’s only surprise. He brought out long-time collaborator Danny Towers for “How Ya Feel?”, jumping around the stage reminiscent of the Raider Klan sound and energy both artists emerged from a decade ago. Multiple mosh pits opened up around the stage, especially once Ski Mask began playing tribute songs by late rappers XXXTentacion and Juice WRLD such as “SAD!” and “Nuketown”. The lengthy yet exciting set still had more to offer though, as the crowd burst into delirium as Ski Mask’s brand new track “Shibuya” blasted on the stage.
As the energy was winding down and the night was creeping closer to the headlining set, Ski Mask made sure to close his set with a couple more bangers. Performing his unreleased track, “The Hulk”, to the voracious crowd, Ski Mask brewed even more energy to last us throughout the long night ahead.
Don Toliver – Savannah Ellerson
Don Toliver is a 29-year-old rapper from Houston coming off of two new singles: “Deep in the Water” and “Bandit”, both released in 2024. I am a 20-year-old college student standing in a crowd of people way taller than me, who happened to see an artist I knew a few songs to in between. While waiting for Don Toliver’s 6:45pm set time, I was sure of those two things. What I didn’t know at the time, was that I was about to see one of the best sets of the weekend, and maybe even in my life.
In full biker clothing, complete with motorcycles on stage, Don Toliver ran onto the stage and kicked off his set with “Private Landing” off his 2023 album Love Sick. In the last verse, beginning with “I’m feelin’ stuck”, Don serenaded us with his unique vocals, which are one of the key elements to his music. Following this, he shouted “I came here to party” before the familiar horns of “I Can’t Save You (Interlude)”. The crowd went crazy, and so did Don, who quite literally screamed the lyrics of the song. This in addition to the live guitarist who came in to intro the song had the energy to the sky. For his next song, “WHAT TO DO?”, he engaged the crowd and asked us all to put one hand up in the air, and then turn it around and keep only our middle finger up.
The rapper kept his electric set going, performing “Cardigan” next. He knew how to command a crowd, and his energy fed into ours. Don spent much of his time dancing, jumping around, screaming into the mic., all while fire exploded from the stage and the guitarist shredded.
Halfway through the set, the rapper performed his newest hit song “Bandit” and was joined on stage by friends donning a similar style of biker gear. During this performance, the crowd was moshing so much I could barely stand straight, but it was all worth it. In fact, this song had the crowd so hype that he performed it another two times during his set.
Don expertly weaved his setlist together, with smooth transitions between songs while still maintaining a high energy. The first surprise of the night was when he was suddenly joined by a masked man on stage. Hearing the familiar “Go go go go go” intro of “Carnival” clued the crowd in that Don Toliver was now joined by Ty Dolla $ign on stage, who had just performed a headlining set on the added Thursday night of the festival. The chemistry between the two artists was undeniable, and the crowd erupted in chants singing along to the song, making this performance one of many highlights of the night.
Towards the closing end of the set, the rapper was joined by another surprise: Kodak Black, where both artists performed live renditions of “Super Gremlin”, “No Flockin’”, and “Embarrassed”. The very last surprise of the night, alongside the last song to round out Don Toliver’s set, included a rapper who is all too familiar at Rolling Loud: Travis Scott. Scott appeared to perform alongside Don and Kodak Black with the song “Flocky Flocky”. Scott’s addition marked the perfect end to Don Toliver’s set, which was nothing short of thrilling. Don Toliver had an infectious energy throughout his hour-long performance, and he held the audience captive with his surprise guests and influential catalog. After seeing this set live, I have been listening to Don Toliver nonstop and eagerly await his next album to be released this year: Hardston Psycho, and I also realize it’s not surprising why fans have been saying Don is a soon to be Rolling Loud headliner.
Future x Metro Boomin – Praneel Bonthala
Finally, it was time for the biggest act of the night, let alone the most anticipated of the festival. With the biggest crowd we’ve seen all weekend surging forward toward the stage, I was expecting a huge and cinematic performance. Coming off of a strong string of records including Heroes & Villains from Metro Boomin and I NEVER LIKED YOU from Future in 2022, the duo has been in the public eye for years. Additionally, their relationship has run deep since 2013 to now, with over 60 songs together. And just in the last week, the duo released their first official fully recorded collaboration album, WE DON’T TRUST YOU. Given their history and the type of work they’ve done together, the building hype was about to boil over as the night went on.
The duo started their electrifying set with blasts of fire trailing their 2022 hit, “Superhero”. With live support manifested in ad-libs and DJing from Metro in the back, Future destroyed his verse with booms of fans screaming lyrics from the crowd. They didn’t only play their recent bangers though. Digging into the deep vault of collaborative tracks they have together, they put together a set list that celebrated the evolution of their sound. From “Monster” to “Digital Dash”, Future and Metro had the crowd rocking. To build on the hype, the duo brought out the previous act, Don Toliver, for “Too Many Nights”. Coming off of a strong performance earlier in the night, Don Toliver sang out the infectious chorus to the ravenous audience.
Joining the crew on stage were Quavo and Travis Scott, playing songs from across the trap hemisphere including “FEIN!” and “HOTEL LOBBY” as a tribute to ex-Migos member Takeoff. The excitement in the crowd was brewing but the night was only going to get wilder.
At the end of the set, Travis Scott pointed at Metro Boomin and asked him to “play that tanana tanana tanana tana tana”. At first, it looked like Metro wanted to go home, but after some persuasion by Travis, he caved. Trembling in anticipation, the crowd had no idea what could come next. Then, with a crash, the group sprung into performance. Playing their at-the-time unreleased track off of WE DON’T TRUST YOU, “Cinderella” instantly opened to mosh pits circling the stage. Being flung in and out the circles, the performance closed with a bang. The perfect end to a chaotic night.
Despite the exhaustion of the long weekend, there was a slight bittersweet feeling that overcame us knowing we could no longer run around the stages in anticipation for another striking set. Still, Neel and I parted Hollywood Park satisfied with the unforgettable experience that was Rolling Loud 2024. Rolling Loud is more than a festival; it represents a cultural experience with art and community weaved within it and spotlights those who continue to evolve the hip-hop genre—and we can’t wait for next year (p.s. tickets available now!)
