Santa Monica to San Bernardino: Mine and SoCal's First Taste of Rolling Loud Circa 2017

My first music festival wasn’t in a massive stadium or on a grassy field. It was in San Bernardino, California, in what was basically a glorified parking lot. It also happened to be the first-ever Rolling Loud production in Southern California. And somehow, in 8th grade, I convinced my mom to drive my friends and I two hours from Santa Monica to be there.

It took months of begging. I made every argument I could think of, from how safe we would be to how much this meant to me. Eventually, she gave in. Looking back, I still cannot believe she said yes. My poor mom not only agreed but also got dragged along as our reluctant chauffeur. She set the rules. We could go, but only on Saturday. And to her credit, she did not just drop us off and leave. She came with us. Looking back, I realize what a trooper she was, patiently sticking it out through the noise, the crowds, and the chaos, just so her tween daughter and her friends could see the rappers they worshipped.

The schedule we made on my notes app (shoutout icloud backup)

Even with just one day, the experience was overwhelming in the best way. Imagine being a tween, surrounded by thousands of people, with bass shaking the ground and lights flooding the night sky. It was chaotic, but it felt like freedom. My friends and I treated the lineup like it was a game plan. We ran from stage to stage, catching YBN Nahmir, Smokepurpp, Trippie Redd, Lil Yachty, Gucci Mane, Playboi Carti, Migos, Lil Uzi Vert, and finally Schoolboy Q. Every set felt larger than life.

A Scale I Had Never Seen Before

What stuck with me even more than the music was the sheer scale of the production. I had never seen anything like it. The stages were massive, towering above us like skyscrapers. Screens flashed visuals that made the performances feel even bigger, lights moved in perfect sync with every beat, and the sound swallowed you whole. At 13, I had no frame of reference for what a festival should look like. Up until then, concerts to me meant smaller venues or whatever my parents played on the car stereo. Walking into Rolling Loud was like stepping into another universe. It set a new bar in my head for what live events could be, and it is one that I have been chasing ever since.

The Soundtrack of the Moment

What made that year even more unforgettable was how much the artists on the lineup were shaping the culture of the time. YBN Nahmir’s “Rubbin Off the Paint” was everywhere, blasting from car stereos and middle school lunch tables alike. Lil Uzi Vert had just dropped Luv Is Rage 2, an album that defined an era and had kids screaming every lyric like it was gospel. Migos were at their peak, Playboi Carti was bringing a new wave, and Schoolboy Q was holding it down as one of the anchors of the West Coast scene. For tweens like us, these were not just rappers. They were the voices of the moment, the artists soundtracking the culture we were growing up in. To be in the crowd, screaming those songs back at them live, felt like being plugged into something so much bigger than ourselves.

We were just three tweens from the westside of Los Angeles, clutching our lanyards and saving up leftover bat mitzvah money to see some of the rappers who were shaping pop culture in real time. I know that was a privilege. Not every kid could talk their mom into driving them hours out of the city for a concert, or spend their saved-up money on something like that. And not every mom would have said yes, let alone gone so far as to dive into the madness with us. Mine did. And that, yes, gave me an experience that completely shifted how I looked at live music.

Looking back, Rolling Loud truly altered the way I saw live events. It was more than just seeing artists I loved. It was the feeling of being part of something huge, something bigger than myself. The crowd’s energy, the nonstop music, and the way the entire space transformed into its own world made me realize how powerful live events can be. It showed me that a concert could be more than a performance. It could be an entire culture.

It is wild to look at Rolling Loud now and see what it has become. Back then, it felt raw and new, like something just starting to find its footing. Today, it is a global phenomenon with festivals across the United States, Europe, and Asia. For us, it was just one night in 2017, but it felt like history in the making.

That night in San Bernardino was my entry point. It was the first time I understood how production, music, and community come together to create an unforgettable experience. And that is why I want to be on the other side of it now, helping to build those same spaces for others. Live events shaped me, and now I want to help shape them for the next kid who convinces their mom to drive them two hours for a night they will never forget.

SOB X RBE