A Playboi Carti concert, massive shoe drops and an influx of some of culture’s most influential celebrities freely roaming amongst the public would all be massive pop culture events individually, but this past weekend, they all happened in one place: ComplexCon.

The 10th annual convention took place Saturday and Sunday at the Los Angeles Convention Center and Crypto.com Arena. Some of the biggest brands and celebrities in hip-hop, sports and streetwear came out to advertise their wares, speak at panels or enjoy the experience. For attendees, this was more than a standard convention; it was also an invaluable cultural moment.

“You get to see some of the upcoming things, new brands, young entrepreneurs, things that actually pop out,” said William Shaw, a sneaker reseller who attended the convention. “This is straight street culture — for the people, by the people.”

Celebrities were on the ground, interacting with fans who wanted a slice of the next big trends in streetwear: Prominent figures such as Twitch’s most-followed streamer Kai Cenat, GRAMMY Award-nominated rapper Quavo and even the infamously elusive rapper Playboi Carti were all on site across the convention.

Kanye West even made a surprise appearance alongside Carti at the marketplace Sunday, visiting Cenat at his VIVET booth, participating in interviews with smaller content creators and generating the largest crowd of the day.

Mumin Walker and Tutu Nhleko, major players of the HEATKLUBNYC clothing brand, were among the creators who used the convention’s star power to give their brands a boost. They had a chance encounter with Quavo and filmed him complimenting one of their hats to post on social media.

“We use these celebrities’ likeness to help sell our products,” Nhleko said. “Not only are we able to give our product to these people, we’re also able to have a conversation. No matter how quick it is, it’s genuine. I can look at them in the face and look at their reactions to the product.”

The event, which attracted over 70,000 people last year, has been used by brands to launch some of their biggest activations directly at the convention. Carti, who served as both co-artistic director and a headliner at the event, launched a collaborative jersey line between his brand, Young Vamp Life, and the NBA, as well as a collaboration with I.AM.GIA.

Dozens of other notable collaborations in fashion included the Satoshi Nakamoto and Vans collaboration, the custom gas station set for the “French Racing Blue” Victor Victor x Nike Air Force 1 drop and the launch of Lil Yachty’s new Air Force 1 Mid sneaker, which included an appearance from the rapper himself.

Shaw said ComplexCon’s cultural pull in the sneaker community makes the convention an indicator for where the shoe world will trend.

“[ComplexCon] can somewhat gauge the way sneakers are going,” Shaw said. “I’m seeing more people have things as far as comfort instead of just stylish … people would rather actually have something that’s somewhat stylish and more comfortable than they’re wearing, [instead of], ‘‘Oh, it looks good, but I got to walk pigeon-toed because my feet are hurting.’”

Aside from the marketplace, the “Complex Conversations” live show hosted panels with some of the biggest names in music, fashion and streaming. The first panel featured music personality DJ Akademiks and rapper French Montana, where they collaboratively ranked their Top 10 Albums of 2026 thus far.

The convention hosted another panel discussing Streamer of the Year with names like Din “Agent00” Muktar, Ray Hsu and Yonna Jay, in which iShowSpeed took home the top spot. The day after, Complex revealed their Top 10 Sneakers of the Year with names like LeBron James’ agent, Rich Paul, and Yachty on the panel breaking down the picks.

Saturday’s final conversation between Cenat — who recently took a leap into the fashion industry with his VIVET line — and the esteemed “Fear of God” founder Jerry Lorenzo focused on their approaches to innovation, growth and establishing legacies in fashion. Lorenzo, the veteran of the two, offered advice about gaining and maintaining relevance to both Cenat and a crowd of fashion-hopefuls.

Both days of the convention concluded with concerts at the Crypto.com Arena. Saturday’s show was headlined by rapper Ken Carson, and Sunday’s event was headlined by Carti.

Carti brought out all of the stops, performing an extensive set which included classics like “Shoota,” “Sky,” and “EVIL J0RDAN.” The performances included appearances from Destroy Lonely, Carson and West, who performed “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” “CARNIVAL” and “Off The Grid.”

“I try to come every year that they have [ComplexCon],” Shaw said. “It’s always a great event. If you’re young and you’re trying to network, get to ComplexCon. You never know who you might wind up meeting and working with.”