Floods of festivalgoers and music fanatics returned to the Hollywood Park Grounds this past weekend, rapping along to fiery hip-hop performances at Rolling Loud 2025. The festival maintained a fresh artist selection, with Peso Pluma performing as the first non-hip-hop  headliner at Rolling Loud and Playboi Carti showcasing his new album, “MUSIC,” live for the first time. 

Gates rolled open at 1 p.m. Saturday as attendees sprinted from the parking lot and into the outskirts of the security checkpoints. The aroma of hot dogs and spilled BeatBoxes filled the air. 

Despite Rolling Loud Los Angeles being held at the same venue for the last four years, there were few guiding signs or clear directions to entrances or box offices. Many festivalgoers wandered the outside street of the venue, looking for their destination. 

Once inside, attendees were greeted with large shipping crate art installations featuring the Rolling Loud logo and towering inflatables of the festival’s unofficial sock doll mascot. Festival outfits were unique to every individual, with fur coats, mini skirts, team jerseys and a general streetwear aesthetic being popular picks for the first day’s dress code. 

As the sun began to set, the crowd became restless and the mosh pits began to form. 

At 5:35 p.m., Ski Mask The Slump God stormed onto the Gopuff stage, inciting immediate chaos and thrashing in the crowd. His appearance came 20 minutes late, which created a domino effect and shifted all artist performance times at the Gopuff stage. 

As a regular Rolling Loud performer, Ski Mask The Slump God made sure to rap crowd favorites like “Shibuya” and “Nuketown,” but also performed unreleased music for his fans and returning festivalgoers. Between every song, Ski Mask The Slump God consistently demanded to open up the mosh pits, with each iteration getting bigger and bigger until his final closing performance tribute to XXXTENTACION and Juice WRLD.

Sexyy Red followed Ski Mask The Slump God, maintaining a spicy energy with her tongue-in-cheek lyrics and her harmonized twerking on stage with dancers. As the audience lit up and the scent of sweet smoke spilled from the crowd, Sexyy Red performed her singles “Bow Bow Bow (F My Baby Dad)” and “SkeeYee” as well as new collaborations like “Fat Juicy & Wet.”

As fans sprinted to performances or felt fatigued from camping out for their favorite artist, food stalls lined various walkways and the outskirts of each stage. With notable restaurants such as Prince Street Pizza and Dave’s Hot Chicken on site as well as a selection of cocktail booths and a “420 Friendly” rolling station, the festival offered plenty of rest stops for attendees. 

Peso Pluma, Rolling Loud’s first non-hip-hop headliner, brought in a more tame yet equally as passionate and loud crowd. Peso Pluma’s performance not only spotlighted a live mariachi band with string-breaking instrumentals but also featured political-centric visuals depicting the Mexican and American flags, flames, and President Donald Trump. 

By the time Peso Pluma capped his set with “RARI” and “LA PATRULLA,” fans were energized and prepared to harness that energy for the last performing headliner of the night: A$AP Rocky. However, with various delays already happening throughout the day, A$AP Rocky took over an hour past his scheduled time to start his performance, garnering boos throughout the crowd. 

Despite the displeased audience, A$AP Rocky still managed to steal the show and regained his fans’ excitement by showing up to his performance in a crane-suspended helicopter. After rapping a few unreleased songs, the artist slowly descended from the helicopter with a spotlight for a thematic angel aesthetic. 

On stage, A$AP Rocky was determined to keep the party running with a whole crew of dancers and men thrashing on top of cars and a mock building. The artist performed a diverse range of his discography, ranging from fan favorites like “RIOT (Rowdy Pipe’n)” and “Lord Pretty Flacko Jodye 2 (LPFJ2)” to new hits such as “Tailor Swif” and “HIGHJACK.”

Throughout his performance, A$AP Rocky featured upside-down American flags, a president-like podium with the United States seal and various protest imagery, feeding into similar values of political commentary and activism as Peso Pluma. 

“When I look in this crowd, I see unity, bro. I see so many different colors. I see so many different types of people getting together,” A$AP Rocky said in closing the first day of Rolling Loud. “I would like to dedicate this show tonight to anybody that was affected in those fires, to anybody that was affected by these new immigration laws, everybody. My heart goes out to you because we are one people, you know what I’m saying?” 

Sunday, the final day of Rolling Loud, brought acts such as Destroy Lonely, Ken Carson, Playboi Carti and last-minute addition Soulja Boy to the stage — a curation that promised more mosh pits and hyper trap energy. 

Attendees returned to the festival venue for Day 2 in monochromatic black and gray outfits for a dark Opium aesthetic. From cross jewelry and micro denim shorts to baggy sweatpants and jeans dragging on the floor, the crowd’s aesthetic mainly included an all-black color scheme — with thrashed edgy streetwear reflecting the style of trap artists like Playboi Carti.

Lines for the carnival rides stretched out far and wide during the day, with selections of a Ferris wheel, spinning swings and rotating rollercoasters for a quick adrenaline rush.

Destroy Lonely rushed onto the stage at 5:55 p.m., screaming at the top of his lungs while performing “FOREVER,” which had fans sprinting from various points in the venue to catch the song on time. Once the moshing started, it never stopped. Pits in the crowd formed during almost every song and water bottles were tossed consistently as the artist played fan favorites such as “NOSTYLIST” and “SYRUP SIPPIN.” 

Scheduled right after Destroy Lonely and following suit with the trap rap genre came Ken Carson’s ground-shaking performance. Even before the artist took to the stage, the crowd was packed tight like sardines, awaiting a highly anticipated performance to unleash from their can. 

The moment Ken Carson threw down his initial beats and sprinted out onto the stage, the crowd went wild as they rocked and rolled non stop. Ken Carson screamed out fan favorites such as “ss,” “Yale” and “Fighting My Demons” while multiple mosh pits formed and the crowd transformed into a zoo. 

Both Destroy Lonely and Ken Carson had to stop their performances midway through and instruct the crowd to take multiple steps back in order for them to continue the show. 

Eerily similar to the first day of Rolling Loud, all of the artists on the Gopuff stage were running on a delayed schedule Sunday as well, with the gaps and intermissions becoming longer as the festival went on. 

Playboi Carti dropped his first track and started his rage rap lyrics at 9:23 p.m., almost one hour later than previously scheduled. Despite the delayed timing, audiences thrashed and jumped to the artist’s raw rhymes and stage-shaking trap beats. Playboi Carti performed his new album “MUSIC” for the first time ever, rapping songs like “RATHER LIE” with a guest performance from The Weeknd and “TOXIC” with Skepta. 

However, shortly after his collaboration performance with The Weeknd, Playboi Carti’s set was stopped due to a recorded 10 people who had passed out during his performance. The crowd was instructed to take multiple steps back, and the show continued after a 10-minute intermission. 

As he played through the majority of “MUSIC” in the first half of his performance, he started to get into some of his throwback hits, performing songs such as “Sky” and “Location.” Despite the unexpected intermission and delays, Playboi Carti performed his entire scheduled set duration, with  Rolling Loud claiming to accept any fines by the state or venue for exceeding curfew hours. 

“Fuck the budget, drop the fucking song,” Playboi Carti said. “There is no budget.” 

Playboi Carti went on to play more fan favorites like “FE!N” and “Type Shit” and finished his set with “OLYMPIAN,” closing out Rolling Loud 2025 and celebrating the release of his highly anticipated album “MUSIC.” 

“Everyone, real quick, put your hands in the air,” Playboi Carti said in closing. “Make sure y’all … get home safe. You find someone that needs some water, give them some water. I care about everybody out here.”