Camp Flog Gnaw: a festival filled with the year’s top rap artists, packed along with unrecognized talent of many underground rappers. If you are a hip-hop, RnB, and rap fan, this is the festival for you.

Day 1: As we arrived at the festival, we were met by the vibrant colors and wild costumes of the concert goers and fans. Many people were wearing eye-catching clothing such as bright green and yellow pants and shirts; many people wore very little clothing at all.  In only a black t-shirt and some jeans, I felt under-dressed. However, our attention drifted from this as my friends and I began to hear the booming music from inside the festival.  We started to anticipate the “legendary” night ahead of us.

When we arrived to one of the two main stages, the scent of cigarettes and that combustible herbage covered the air. We stood and enjoyed the performance and talking to the stoned college kids. The night was off to a relaxing and cool mood with the soothing voice of singer SZA. Then the crowd went crazy with a guest appearance of Isaiah Rashad who came out to perform with her and played “Free Lunch” off his new album. After this performance, ASAP Ferg came out and then began the constant pushing and cramming of the crowd, which would occur throughout the weekend. Ferg’s set started, and we lost our friend Chad in the mosh pits and excitment of the crowd. Without his phone, we had no idea how we’d find him and decided to go to the other stage to watch Chance the Rapper perform (and try to find Chad). Being one of my favorite artists, Chance the Rapper was an experience I had looked forward to for years. He played a couple songs off of his mixtape “Acid Rap” and his new mixtape “Coloring Book,” as well as some verses off of some songs that have featured him. His vocals live sounded fantastic and similar to the studio recording, making for a great show. After the performance of Chance the Rapper, A$ap Rocky and A$ap Mob performed a great set as well, really energizing the crowd.  After Tyler the Creator, we somehow found Chad after being lost for about five hours among the 40,000 people. The night was finished and our eventful weekend was halfway over.

Day 2: The next afternoon, we arrived back at the festival, this time a bit worn out and determined to not lose Chad. We arrived at the stage and watched some more underground artists before DJ Taco performed and played some hype music. He brought out Vince Staples, who performed “Norf Norf,” and the crowd went insane. Around this time, the grass beneath our feet had turned to dirt and the crowd had become much larger and tightly compacted together. Soon we became covered in dirt and drenched in sweat from the dust and heat caused by the crowd. Being in the front was hectic and after Taco’s set, a few of my buds left the wild crowd. However, a couple friends and I stayed in the front to watch one of our favorite artists: Flatbush Zombies. During the wait for Flatbush, I realized we had lost Chad again, but we’d all lose each other soon. Flatbush jumped on to the stage and got quite the reaction from the crowd. They played many of their popular songs (“Palm Trees”, “Bounce”, and “Glorious Thugs”) and then brought out the Underachievers to perform “LUAM” off the Clockwork Indigo EP (Flatbush + Underachievers). Their sound live was great and they could really energize the crowd. After the set, I met back up with my friends and got some food and came back to watch the Jewish, Muslim-raised, red-headed gourmet chef and rapper, Action Bronson, perform. He performed a more laid back set with his mellow beats and good vibes. He played some of my favorite songs such as “Baby Blue” and “Terry.” Around 9:00, Sremmlife Crew performed some of their hits such as “Black Beetles” and “No Type”. I’m not a huge fan, but they were cool to see live and could really hype up the crowd. Up next on the venue was Joey Bada$$, another one of my favorite rap artists. He is another more laid back artist with beats of his own style, mainly influenced from his rap group “Pro Era.” His set was personally one of the best at the festival, especially his performance of his hit songs such as “Christ Conscious,” “Paper Trails,” “Devastated,” an unreleased single called “Temptations,” and many other great songs. The final performance was Schoolboy Q, who had a dope set to end the festival.

The weekend was over and we had survived. My friends and I spent 20 hours in two days at this festival, and had some of the best experiences of our lives. Seeing nine of my favorite artists in just two days was incredible. Truly, Flog Gnaw is a experience my friends and I will never forget. If you are into rap, this is definitely a festival you do not want to miss.

Rap, Flog Gnaw, Where’s Chad 2k16, festival, music