“The crowd needs to calm down, and anyone who jumped over the barricade needs to walk out, or we will shut this thing down,” Tariq Cherif, co-creator of the global hip-hop music festival Rolling Loud yelled into the microphone to the audience after headliner Playboi Carti walked off stage during the first evening of the three-day event on Friday, March 3 at Hollywood Park in Inglewood.
Minutes earlier, Carti was seen screaming and jumping as fans were encouraged to get rowdy, just like the 26-year-old Atlanta rapper was doing on stage.
It only took about three full songs from the rapper — he got through songs like “Rockstar Made” and “R.I.P.” — before the massive crowd before him was completely whipped into a frenzy and aggressively moshing. Though the energy was electrifying and at moments overwhelming, the lights and music were cut off when young fans began jumping over barricades and smashing fans in the front row.
Carti wasn’t particularly apologetic for the shutdown that lasted about 30 minutes and cut into his set time. When cleared to come back on stage, he yelled to the crowd: “They cut my music, let’s start this!”
Rolling Loud, the first major, multi-day festival event to be held on the newly developed grounds adjacent to SoFi Stadium, kicked off the day on a high note with eager fans and mosh pits at every set, whether you found yourself at Levi’s stage for Tyga or at the Gopuff Stage for DaBaby.
Despite some the more chaotic moments, the running theme of community was on full display throughout the festival grounds. Before Tyga launched his set on the main stage, Cherif introduced the mayor of Inglewood, James T. Butts Jr.
“We have the greatest stadium in the world,” Butts said with a smile. “Welcome to Inglewood,…
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