I woke up, stretched, and sat down to meditate to clear my mind for day two. All I could think about was how I was going to make this more memorable than the day before. Today wasn’t just day two, but what we called our Dreamville Fest. Instead of going to the label’s festival in April, we had a sneak peak of that today. We went outside the Airbnb to take pictures on the lawn for our day two outfits. Seeing us both wearing the merch that I waited so long to come in the mail for this occasion, made the moment of us getting to see him more deserving.
The second time around when we entered the venue and walked around for food, the environment felt more natural for the both of us. I wasn’t as anxious this day as the one before, I felt much more in my element. We were so early to the stage for their slot times, that this was the closest to any stage we had been so far. It was worth having the sun beating down on us for Omen, Lute and Cozz. The weather in California was always sunny and comforting, except whenever I decided to have on my hoodie. I knew I would need it for the night though. It was surreal to see them that close, enough to dap them up, or to go back and forth with their lyrics if you knew them.
After they were done, we had time before Bas, so we ended up taking pictures and grabbed some more food. One of the best parts of these festivals was seeing other peoples' outfits they decided to wear. All the festival preparation tip videos instructed you not to wear your best shoes, because they’ll get stepped on, dirtied up or lost. However, there was something rebellious about wearing white shoes to something you knew would get them so dirty. I was willing to sacrifice my white high-top Converse. I guess I wanted them to get dirty to remind me of what I was experiencing. Heading to the Cîroc stage for Bas was one of the most fun moments we spent that second day. As we made our way into the crowd for Bas, we knew we couldn’t be too close, because we had to go back to the Punx stage later for Aminé. Bas was the kickstart of adrenaline we needed for the night. Up until this point, we had only been going crazy in the crowd at nighttime.
When Bas played “The Jackie,” both sides of the crowd were jumping left and right. I had to hold onto Ant’s shoulder when “Costa Rica” came on. It was as exhilarating at Sheck was the night before but had a much different feel to it because it was still light outside a bit. By the time we left that stage and walked over to Aminé, the sun was setting, and the lights dazzled brightly in the night sky. The stages really came alive as the night crept in on us. Oddly enough, before his set started though, Ant and I ran into a few people who asked us for any drugs we had. Honestly, these people looked like they had had enough of whatever drug they were looking for more of. It reminded me that some people come to these events with a whole different view of having fun than I do. I at least would like to remember what I was doing. I don’t judge much on how people enjoy their time or the state they chose to be in during events, but it was annoying being asked by the same random people a few times about substances we didn’t have. Nevertheless, it wouldn't stop my excitement for what was next.
Aminé is a rapper I discovered back when studying abroad in London in the summer of 2019. Most days of that two-week trip I was a bit lonely and homesick I’d say, so replaying Aminé’s album Good for you in my headphones as we traveled city to city helped. It grew on me and I’m forever glad I looked at more of his music besides just “Caroline.” His latest album he released only had one song on it I really liked and could play back a lot, which was called “meant2be." The beat was one I was curious to hear live because when I first heard the song, I thought either Playboi Carti or Lil Uzi was on the track. The bass thumped hard anytime I listened to it in the car, so in person I knew it would translate well. He had tons energy to him; versus other performers we’d pass by and see them barley moving. Being animated and engaged, while singing or rapping your lyrics was what made the performances worth it. Aminé killed his set; everybody knew Caroline, and everybody was screaming lyric for lyric with him. The day floated by so easily and effortlessly, that it wasn’t until I looked up from my phone while recording Aminé, that I noticed how dark it was.
After Aminé’s set ended, we made a last-minute bathroom break, then ended up going to the biggest stage. The walk this time felt the longest of the weekend so far. Crowds of people were swarming from food stands, bathroom stalls and other open spaces of the venue to get closer to the main stage as Tyga was next to perform. We were in the back corner of the crowd that was on the left side from the artists point of view. We had to get as close as we could for this night. We were too far during Kid Cudi. As we swam our way through the crowd with each performance, we hit a wall of people. They just wouldn’t move, budge, or even look back to allow us to go forward. I couldn’t be mad at them for it. I was just frustrated that we couldn’t get any further. As we stood in the crowd, taking videos of the mass of people behind us and the stage to see our surroundings, we noticed the people immediately around us were cool and nice to talk to.
Unlike other random people who asked for substances, or people who we had quick meaningless conversation with, this group of people had the right vibe about them. Aryan was the first guy we spoke too, then he introduced us to his girlfriend, who was so exhausted standing up straight that she had to lean on me for leverage. Anthony was laughing because his life-long friend back home was named Aryan too. That wasn’t all, because when Aryan turned around to get his friends attention to introduce us, his friends name was Anthony. We stood there laughing for a moment about it.
Just like that, we had made new friends easily in the trenches of the festival. Our legs were aching, but we pushed through by talking while there were breaks between the artists. We talked about what brought us all here and made us so attached to the music. I hadn’t been in college in a year to this point, so making friends and interacting with new people this organically was refreshing. We all kept starring at the stage wanting to get closer. We weren’t satisfied with how close we were, so we devised a plan to move forward in the crowd during Chris Brown and Jack Harlow’s performances. We knew it would be easier to move when others weren’t paying much attention and just dancing to the music. When Chris Brown came up, I saw about four or five different women suddenly emerge from the crowd, high up on what I would assume was their boyfriends’ shoulders to get a better view. They blocked the people behind them without a care in the world. Nevertheless, that was one less person on the ground occupying space for us to maneuver through. We all stayed in the same line formation and pushed our way through until we ran into another wall of people.
Not to say I wasn’t entirely ecstatic to see Chris Brown live, but it was nice to say I saw him live. I remembered his BET performance attempting to sing Man in the Mirror after Michael Jackson passed. I was a fan of some of his music and knew that he didn’t cheat his audiences with his performative side. He was as impressive now as I had always seen him be on television and music videos. He could dance, sing, and elevate the crowd with ease. I looked up again at the women who were losing their minds above us, some of whom disrobing themselves to get Chris' attention. If it didn’t feel like a wild festival before, it did now. Parts of the crowd were attempting to get in front of us at this point. We collectively migrated more forward past others until we yet again hit another wall of people. Aryan told us to wait to move again when Jack Harlow was performing “What’s Poppin.”
It was also great to see Jack live too. Seeing the ascension of another great white rapper/R&B artist and saying I saw him live was rewarding. However, Aryan’s prediction fell flat. When What’s Poppin’ came on, nobody around got that crazy and made space for us to move. Everyone was still and nodding their heads to the track and somewhat rapping with him. So, we couldn’t move much. When he left the stage, we knew J. Cole was next, so nobody was leaving. Just when I was content where I was, suddenly a random group of much bigger guys walked right beside us, pushing us aside with force to make their way through. In a split second, I looked back at Ant, Aryan and the rest of them and gave them a nod to follow them. Before we knew it, if I had to estimate, I'd d say less than a hundred or so people separated us from the stage. We were as close as we were going to get, and we all were much happier about it.
Seeing Cole’s full set just months prior in an arena was one thing, but knowing he was going to perform this in front of his biggest crowd in years was another. All these fans of him just like us. The lights went out, the flame on the basket-hoop in the back erupted and just like Dallas, he started off with 95. south.
Truly indescribable to hear all the tracks in that crowd versus in an arena. He gave us everything he had with his performance and the crowd was insane for him. The transitions between tracks were his specialty for sure. Every time another song began, the crowd was increasingly invested, building up the entire audience. “Power Trip” was most memorable because when the hook came, the entire crowd sang along with him, to the point to where he held out the microphone and gave us a stank face of approval almost as if he were saying “damn, this crowd has it tonight.”
He had plenty of tracks where he would’ve just held out the mic, played the track in the background and let us finish his verses for him. The best thing about Cole as an artist live is he never sells you short on his ability to rap every word. Every word of every track he’s mastered as if it was just another day for him in the studio. His back and forth with us was so interactive. He brought Bas out to have both sides of the crowd combat each other during The Jackie. Every time I had the chance to see Ant going crazy, I smiled, because it was reminiscent of myself back in October. I didn’t film as much Cole this time as I did the first time, because I wanted to be more invested in the performance this time more than ever.
It wasn’t until his track with 21 Savage A lot came on that I had to get my phone up. Funny enough, and now he can read this and find out, but I hadn’t ever heard Cole’s verse fully until Ant and I were riding around one-day around Norman to pick up some things before we spent time together at his place. Here we were, years later listening to the man himself killing it.
Rapping word for word with your favorite artist live is something I wish upon all my friends and those close to me who love music. When you get all the words, at their cadence, inflections, and rhythm, it’s unbelievable. When he was winding down to his final track of No Role Modelz, I got my phone out one more time. The crowd was insane and had every word down with him. Guys were climbing up on each others shoulders to get better views. From high school hallways where I would play that track in my ears leaving track practice, to standing in a sea of over sixty-thousand people, it still hit the same.
As he thanked us for coming out, told us to get home safe and walked off the stage, the mass of people behind us scattered quicker than I’d ever seen so far at the festival. What a wonderful time watching the pyro go off as we stepped over more empty water packets, trash, and clothing than the previous night. The main reason I came to the festival was now complete. Aryan and his friends got our numbers before we left and told us to hit them up so we could have an even crazier time for the final day with them. The final day was all about wilding out as much as we could.
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