Over Labor Day Weekend, Jay-Z brought the Made In America festival to Los Angeles for the very first time. The festival brought a wide array of musical talent including Kanye West, Iggy Azalea, Kendrick Lamar, Borgore, Weezer, Afrojack, and John Mayer. While it was an extremely hot weekend we still have to say it was a huge success and we had an amazing time. Let me break it down for you below.
The Venue
Made In America took place at Grand Park right in the center of Downtown Los Angeles. Multiple streets were closed down in order to build several massive stages and a skatepark. The venue also included multiple beer gardens, tons of food trucks, and several VIP areas. The park wasn’t too large, but the blazing sun made definitely made walking throughout the park rough. Once the sun came down the tall buildings surrounding the venue made for a beautiful backdrop.
The People
Everyone at Made In America was there to listen to music and have a good time. A lot of people came dressed up in an all-American theme with US Flags, t-shirts, and bandanas. Although stages filled up early with large crowds, people were nice enough to let us squeeze through. The only problem with so many people were the amount of large lines. If you wanted to wait in line for food or beer then you definitely had to schedule which artist you were going to miss. Each day there were artists and celebrities walking all over the venue. We were lucky enough to find Jay-Z and Timbaland.
The Music
Day one we headed straight for YG. His set was super live and he dropped all his famous hits like “Who Do You Know” and “My Ni**a.” He brought our several special guests including Jeremih and they performed their new single “Don’t Tell Em.” From there we needed our EDM fix so we caught Will Sparks for some of his signature Melbounce bounce. His set at the James Dean Stage had everyone jumping. Following Sparks was DVBBS who absolutely killed it. As soon as they dropped Showtek’s edit to MAKJ & M35’s “Go,” a mosh pit started in the center of the crowd.
Following DVBBS, we caught Kendrick Lamar’s hip hop set on the Marilyn Stage. He had a crowd filled to what seemed like the end of the park. It was a killer set and he dropped his famous hits “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe” and “m.A.A.d City.” For our last set of day one of Made In America we caught Afrojack who absolutely tore the roof off the place. The production was crazy with LED screens, fireworks and shooting lasers. Afrojack definitely stepped up and played one of his best sets.
Sunday’s lineup was out of this world. We started our day with Amsterdam’s Yellow Claw who trapped out the James Dean Stage. Their MC brings out so much energy from the crowd, that is definitely makes for an awesome set. They are able to separate the crowd and start a wall of death mosh pit of fans running straight into each other. It is totally a sight fans need to check out.
Following Yellow Claw, we had a blast from the past by catching the famous hip hop group Cypress Hill. It was amazing to watch them rap their classic hits like “Insane In the Brain” and “Superstar.” Their vocals sounded exactly like the album. Finally we closed out Made In America with one of the most anticipated performances. Kanye West took over the Marilyn Monroe stage for an epic set of classic and recent tracks. He performed everything from “Clique,” Mercy, and “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” to ” Runaway” and “Blood On The Leaves.” Kanye even stopped his set for a rant on the media explaining how passionate he is for his own music and fans. It was a truly epic weekend and we’d like to thank Jay-Z and Budweiser for putting together a fun-filled festival.
