(Photo Credit: Rolling Loud / Gus van der Aa)
Rolling Loud has been living up to it’s label of the world’s largest hip-hop festival lately, taking their operation worldwide and putting rap music on a global stage. This past Friday and Saturday, stars from around the globe joined forces to put on an incredible show for the very first Rolling Loud Rotterdam, which shut down Rotterdam Ahoy in the heart of one of the Netherlands largest cities.
Friday got off to a big start with West Coast wordsmith Kendrick Lamar serenading the crowd with tracks off 2022’s critically acclaimed Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. West London was also in the building in the name of Central Cee, who played buzzing bangers like the recently released “Sprinter” ft. Dave and 2022’s viral hit “Doja.” Other highlights from day one included standout sets from rising Nigerian star Rema, ATL super-producer Metro Boomin, and Dreamville lyricist JID. Leading ladies put on like “Put it On Da Floor” songstress Latto, recently named XXL Freshman TiaCorine, and Nigerian singer Ayra Starr. It wouldn’t have been right to come to Rotterdam without artists like SBF, S10, JIR11, and many other Dutch artists touching the stage to show love to their local fans, as well.
Saturday saw things heat up, as La Flame himself, Travis Scott took to the main stage to perform vintage hits from deep bag as fans patiently await the release of his highly anticipated album UTOPIA. One fan was even lucky enough to be gifted Travis’ new Cactus Jack x Air Jordan 1s after he rapped an unreleased UTOPIA track, “LOST FOREVER,” word for word. There was one sought after album that did get some play however, as Philly phenom Lil Uzi Vert stunned the crowd with songs from his newly released Pink Tape. Day two also saw incredible performances from South Florida sensation Denzel Curry, Rolling Loud veteran Ski Mask the Slump God, and Memphis spitter GloRilla. The European stars came out in full force, with artists like Swedish internet enigma Yung Lean, British hip-hop collective D-Block Europe, and Dutch acts like Lijpe, Kevin & Friends, and AFB Family repping for their respective countries.
The first of three European editions of Rolling Loud, Rotterdam began the festival’s Euro trip in exciting fashion. Stay tuned for much more from Rolling Loud, including festivals in Germany and Portugal next week, before the big one, the eighth annual Rolling Loud Miami, returns July 21st-23rd.
View full performance clips at https://www.youtube.com/c/
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© 2023, Seth "Digital Crates" Barmash. All rights reserved.
