Crowds of hip-hop enthusiasts from all over the Bay Area lined up outside the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California this past weekend to attend Rolling Loud Music Festival.
When the gates opened, they sprinted to the two stages to see artists such as Travis Scott, Schoolboy Q, Lil Wayne and 21 Savage grace their presence. Thousands were packed in front of the stages situated in the amphitheater parking lot, where smoke and confetti filled the air.
Rolling Loud – originated in Miami, Florida – made its way to the Bay Area and is headed to Los Angeles in December. This has allowed hip-hop enthusiasts from coast to coast to enjoy their favorite artists live.
Amongst those fans were SF State students who, in the midst of mid-term season, wanted an escape from responsibilities by attending the festival.
Kyle Chang, kinesiology major, attended Rolling Loud Festival to relax and take some pressure off the constant stress of graduation this coming May.
“What a better way to get away from the madness than to get inebriated in the middle of nowhere,” Chang said.
However, there are still responsibilities to be dealt with and any student looking to balance work with play certainly keeps this in mind. Going to a festival that consumes an entire weekend must be planned for accordingly by SF State students. Raj Batth, business marketing manager at SF State, was no exception to this rule.
“I’m making up the time during the week and just balancing out my study hours,” Batth said.
In order to fully enjoy the festival atmosphere at Rolling Loud, Terry Hendricks, mechanical engineering major, talked about how he prepared for the weekend by sacrificing some of his typical free time during the week.
“I have done some homework for some of my classes ahead of time just to lighten the amount of work I have to do when I come back from the festival,” Hendricks said.
With the festival going until at least 11 p.m. on Sunday, getting schoolwork done in advance was undoubtedly the way to go.
Other than the dilemma of balancing school and attending the festival, the expense was another challenge students had to face. Tickets to the festival were $199.99 for a two-day pass before taxes and fees, according to the official Rolling Loud Festival website.
For Chang, the timing of the ticket sales was everything.
“Tickets for this event went on sale about two months ago right around the time FAFSA came through, so naturally I had to splurge some of it on something completely unnecessary,” Chang said.
Others, including Hendricks, had a more difficult time deciding whether or not to spend the $199.99 on the two-day festival – partially due to the fact he had never attended a major festival like this before.
“I am not really sure if the price is fair, but from all the experiences my friends have had going to big events, they say it’s the most fun they have had,” Hendricks said.
The experience of being at an event that combines today’s hottest hip-hop artists with rising stars ended up simply being too great of an opportunity for him to pass up.
For Batth, the genre of hip-hop is something that can unify people beyond any differences.
“[Hip-hop] hypes everybody up and allows for a good time,” Batth said.
