New year, new location, new lineup, but the one thing that didn’t change is the amazing experience that Rolling Loud provides to fans in Miami. Now held at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, the world’s premiere rap music festival kicked off it’s amazing 2018 lineup today.
With highly anticipated performances from J. Cole, Lil Uzi Vert, N.E.R.D, Young Thug, Tory Lanez, The Diplomats, Russ and many more, fans had a ton of artists to choose from on Friday. Where else can you see Lil Uzi Vert try to top his viral 2017 performance and hear cuts from J. Cole’s brand new album, KOD?
We shouldn’t really need to spell out reasons of why you need to attend Rolling Loud this year, the stacked lineup practically sells itself, but we’re going to anyways.
Not only is the rap music festival in Miami arguably the best music festival of the year (for a second straight year), but fans will have opportunities to hear a bunch of exclusive performances for the first time. From La Flame to Postey and more, you can expect a number of artists to make some live debuts at Rolling Loud.
Check out our list of our five reasons you can’t miss Rolling Loud 2018 below.
It’s the best festival lineup of the year
Photo by Dan Garcia/The Early Registration
Let’s be real, for the second straight year, Rolling Loud’s Miami festival has the best lineup of all music festivals. Perhaps even the greatest rap festival lineup of all-time, this year’s lineup boasts performances from Future, J. Cole, Travis Scott, Lil Wayne, N.E.R.D., Lil Uzi Vert, Young Thug, Post Malone, Russ and many more. From Friday to Sunday, start to finish, Rolling Loud has the best rappers in the game right now!
Party like a rockstar to Beerbongs & Bentleys
Photo by Dan Garcia/The Early Registration
Post Malone is celebrating the release of his brand new album, Beerbongs and Bentleys, and fans will get a chance to hear Post perform the album’s tracks live at Rolling Loud this year. Don’t be surprised if Post Malone makes a number of live performance debuts from the new LP in Miami next month.
New music from Travis Scott?
Photo by Dan Garcia/The Early Registration
Travis Scott possibly had the best set at Rolling Loud last year, and you should expect him to deliver the same energy for his performance this year. Anything can happen at the night show, even the debut of new music. Travis Scott told fans on Twitter today that this week is the week that fans eat, which likely means new music. Scott and Kanye West hinted at the release of a brand new collaboration with Lil Uzi Vert, so perhaps La Flame and Uzi will perform the track at Rolling Loud. Wishful thinking!
The undercard is ridiculously good
Photo by Dan Garcia/The Early Registration
It’s not just the headliners that make Rolling Loud 2018 so great! A simply review of the festival poster will show you how deep the lineup really is this year. You shouldn’t only be excited for J. Cole and Travis Scott, you also need to get excited for Smino, Jaden Smith, Juvenile, Bas, Lil Xan, Wifisfuneral and J.I.D. to name a few.
Be one of the first to hear KOD live
Photo by Dan Garcia/The Early Registration
J. Cole just released his new record breaking album, KOD, and it’s an instant fan favorite. Cole’s loyal fan base will definitely come in waves for Rolling Loud 2018, and Rolling Loud will be Cole’s first U.S. performance since releasing the album. Therefore it will be your first chance to hear the new LP live and in person. Needless to say, you’ll want to be at Rolling Loud in person as J. Cole shuts thing down on Friday night.
With weekend one of Coachella in the rear view window, it’s time to get excited for Miami’s Rolling Loud. With the best festival lineup in the country last year, expectations for Rolling Loud 2018 were very high (no pun intended). Lucky for music fans in Florida and rap fans around the world, Rolling Loud delivered with an epic 2018 lineup that looks to be even better than 2017.
With anticipated performances from J. Cole, Cardi B, Young Thug, Post Malone, Travis Scott, Lil Uzi Vert, Migos, Russ, N.E.R.D and many more, you can’t go wrong with whatever performances you catch over the weekend.
If you’ve been living under a rock, Rolling Loud will take place from May 11-13 at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium. Fans can visit the festival’s official website for more information!
Hit the jump and check out our list of our ten most anticipated performances for Rolling Loud 2018.
When asked to directly name an industry plant by Complex’s Everyday Struggle co-host DJ Akademiks, rapper/producer Russ admitted his eyebrows are raised when it comes to whether or not Chance The Rapper is an industry plant. The ‘What They Want’ artist wouldn’t directly say whether or not he thinks Chance is a plant, but he certainly tried to make the case.
“Your coming out party, your debut mixtape when you have 25,000 follows, you have Jake One beats and Justice League beats and Twista, and Ab-Soul on the video. That type of shit, it definitely raises my eyebrows.”
In Russ’ defense and to put things in better context, he does mention that he fucks with Chance and his people, he is a fan of Chance’s music and told the Everyday Struggle cast that Chance is a very smart person, but all while subtly putting an asterisk on all of Chance’s accomplishments, hinting that Chance has potentially had a secret big label backing the entire time.
But as anyone from Chicago will tell you, Chance’s come up was not overnight. Only in the past year or so has Chance been frequently headlining major festivals throughout the world, while becoming a household name. While Russ cites Acid Rap as Chance’s debut mixtape, it was Chance The Rapper’s 10 Day mixtape which came first, and really started to build a buzz in the city of Chicago and elsewhere.
The success of that project then led to a huge opportunity for Chance as he then was invited to join Childish Gambino on his sold-out tour. Sure, maybe your grandmother didn’t know what a “Chance The Rapper” was at that point, but Chance was doing a number of supporting dates and headlining college shows throughout the Midwest to introduce himself to fans.
Chance’s come up is more than impressive, especially when doing it without a major label backing, but to discredit his success by hinting that there is no way he isn’t secretly being promoted by some big name music executives is crazy. Also, wouldn’t an industry plant get a little more love from Top 40 radio? Besides his features, it’s still relatively rare to hear a lot of Chance The Rapper when you tune in.
Watch Russ’ sit-down with Complex’s Everyday Struggle crew below, and check out his discussion on industry plant at the 14-minute mark
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