Last weekend, the 88rising festival “Head in the Clouds” was held in Los Angeles to great success!
The September 22nd festival kicked off with a bang at the Los Angeles State Historic Park where you could get everything from drinks to merchandise or just sit on the lawn listening to music. If you had a VIP ticket, there were comfortable and stylish couches to sit on and relax. The added benefit of this section was how roomy it was when more people gathered at the stage as the night went on.
During the one-day event, you could hear everything from hip-hop to trap at the event. Other than English, the languages you could hear through the night included Korean, Japanese, and Chinese!
Introductions and talks before a new song were where you could truly get to know the flavorful and upbeat personalities of all the artists as well. Some foreign artists like Korea’s own Zion.T were quite adorable when communicating with fans in English. As expected, phones were out as fans sang along to hit songs like “Eat.”
Tackling a different style of music, Dumbfoundead pumped up the audience with dynamic songs where the rap was too good to not raise your hands to. “Cochino” was a favorite in particular, though really any of his songs could be a favorite with how creative the lyrics are. KOHH wowed the audience as arguably the biggest Japanese rapper right now. I became a new fan hearing how fresh his music was.
Being the only female artist at the show, Niki knew how to pull out her charisma and you could hear the proof in the reactions of her fans. Their love for her would have brought a smile to your face as it did to mine. Niki’s passion for performance was also something to note as well!
Joji and headliner Rich Brian were some of the last performers of the night, and you could hear their names chanted all over the pit. “Head in the Clouds” was a crowd favorite and, without question, something you need to hear. It was just beautiful seeing the support Joji had from so many people. Darker songs like “Demons” were played, along with a surprise appearance by the immense, red, furry monster from the music video. What I found was a lot of the fans relate to Joji’s deep concepts behind his songs as well. “Glow Like That” and “Cold” from Rich Brian brought in a party for sure, but seeing him perform “History” for the first time ever was truly life changing.
The festival ended up with collaboration performances like “Midsummer Madness,” giving everyone a feel-good vibe of the friendship between all the artists.
There were so many incredible artists that one simple review can’t begin to cover them all and explain their performances. However, some of the other artists who performed were Diablo, Don Krez, Yung Pinch, Sen Morimoto, August 08, Laff Trax, Higher Brothers, Keith Ape, and Murda Beatz. Overall, the festival was an amazing way to discover new music and artists, as well as to enjoy and dance along to the songs you already knew.
Thank you 88rising for inviting us to the event! Make sure to check out a few of our photos below! You can click on an image to enlarge the photo, then scroll through the gallery for easy viewing.
Sarah (sapphir3bluu) is a writer for WTK from Las Vegas and fond of cats, k-pop, and singing. She enjoys learning new languages and is manager of Super Junior fanbase, WorldwideELFs, but has also done subbing work for EXO. If you don’t find her being slowly consumed by BTS, GOT7, NCT, and ASTRO, she is aspiring to go to graduate school and work in the health care field.