Camp Flog Gnaw
Exposition Park
11/12-13/2016
Saturday 11/12
1:05 p.m. The Metro has a recording of Tyler, the Creator thanking everyone for riding it to Camp Flog Gnaw. Everyone at the station is chuckling when it comes on. (Josh Chesler)
2:40 I'm walking into the festival and there is a Donald Trump protest on Figueroa Street which is right by the entrance to Camp Flog Gnaw. There's a heavy LAPD presence. Sirens are going off and an LAPD helicopter is soaring above me. Tribal drums are beating loudly and hundreds of people are yelling “Not my president” while holding anti-Trump picket signs. I momentarily feel like I've stepped into a civil rights era protest. However, my revolutionary feels were short lived because as quickly as I found myself in the protest, I found myself out of it as I walked right into the adjacent Camp Flog Gnaw entrance. (Denise De La Cruz)
3:16 While carnival games, rides and food vendors by two music stages is definitely an impressive sight, seeing a miniature golf course set up inside Camp Flog Gnaw just made me LOL pretty hard. Very clever Tyler, very clever. (DDLC)
3:21 Alina Baraz just set a sweet and romanticly somber tone with “Maybe” on this overcast yet dry day. I feel like drinking my sorrows away at the beer garden by the Flog stage as Baraz softly utters,”Lies on your lips, but there's love in your eyes.” Preach girl, preach. (DDLC)
3:36 Is there anything better than walking into a festival to the sweet sounds of Kamasi Washington? (JC)
3:57 Pretty much the entire Coliseum is decked out in Golf Wang art. FYF should be taking notes on how to transform the grounds into something cool. (JC)
4:20 I just got passed a joint at the perfect moment. (DDLC)
4:19 Domo Genesis is the most underrated member of the Odd Future crew. No doubt about it. (JC)
4:40 If my Mexican father found out that I just paid $18 for a burrito & horchata, I think he'd disown me. (DDLC)
5:02 Watching drunk teenagers get on to carnival rides and then lose their shit will never get old. (JC)
5:07 Some young dude has climbed to the top of a tree adjacent to the stage to see SZA better. He's incited a bit of a ruckus as the crowd chants for him to jump. He doesn't. (DDLC)
5:19 SZA just brought out Isaiah Rashad for “Warm Winds” and the crowd goes absolutely nuts. Rashad then starts rapping “Free Lunch” and is met with an enthusiastic audience chanting the chorus in unison. (DDLC)
6:03 Syd
6:08 A$AP Ferg has kids dancing on top of the stands holding up the lights in the audience. He is, in fact, the Trap Lord. (JC)
6:19 A girl just passed out right next to me. It’s going to be a long weekend for some people. (JC)
6:34 There’s a pretty serious movement from Ferg’s set as everyone moves to the other stage to go watch Chance. Apparently, Tyler came out to do “Palace/Curse” with The Internet. Committing to watching Ferg was not the right move, but you really have to pick between the two stages sometimes because it’s a 10+ minute walk through a dusty human traffic jam. (JC)
6:40 I've noticed that hip-hop festivals in SoCal draw the most racially diverse crowds. Hip-hop is the anti-Trump. Hip-hop will save America! (DDLC)
6:45 Just as I cheesily yet optimistically proclaimed to myself that hip-hop will save America, I see a crew of white boys jokingly say out loud “white power” as the security at the beer gardens tells people to put their right arm up high to check for 21+ wristbands. I immediately tell myself, “Not today, satan, not today.” (DDLC)
6:49 It smells like fresh shit at the women's porta potties. (DDLC)
6:52 It’s not yet 7:00 and a solid 10-20% of the crowd
6:54 “This is really a carnival, I fuck with this. This really isn't like other music festivals,” says a young millennial as she waits in line for the Ferris wheel. (DDLC)
7:04 A girl is literally breaking up weed next to me in the palm of her hand while waiting for Chance. The security guards are about two arms’ lengths away. Welcome to music festivals in the legalized California. (JC)
7:09 I might be the only person not Snapchatting Chance’s set. (JC)
7:36 Chance just brought out D.R.A.M. That was cool. (JC)
7:57 There have been so many people both successfully and unsuccessfully trying to jump the fence into the festival that it’s literally collapsed in a few spots. Security and maintenance teams are staying busy tonight. (JC)
8:06 There are maybe a few hundred people here for the beginning of the Toro y Moi set, and I’m pretty sure a bunch of them are just too high that they didn’t realize A$AP Ferg was over already. (JC)
8:23 From Kanye’s LA shows to ComplexCon and now Camp Flog, this has been a couple of great weeks for LA’s
8:44 The Kylie Jenner clones have come out for A$AP Rocky. (JC)
8:51 Damn near all of A$AP Mob is on stage right now. Where’s hologram Yams? (JC)
9:01 Thanks to Instagram and my easily distracted self, I just walked into the men's bathroom on accident. (DDLC)
9:14 Some of these dudes in Supreme shirts are literally buying dozens of Flog Gnaw hats and shoving them into Golf Wang backpacks. Tyler’s branding is impeccable. (JC)
9:33 Even more than the brightly colored Golf Wang clothing, the black Chance 3 hat seems to be the accessory of choice here. (JC)
9:41 DJ Mustard is just playing the chorus of every song that’s been popular in the last three years at this point. (JC)
9:44 Clips of the 1992 LA riots play on the screens during DJ Mustard's set. There's an epic
9:53 There are as many Ferris wheels here as stages, and that’s probably the only time I’ll ever say that at a music festival. (JC)
9:54 So far, DJ Mustard has brought out D.R.A.M, Ty Dolla $ign and G-Eazy. It seems like Mustard has a locker room full of hip-hop heavyweights backstage just waiting to make an appearance. Lastly, YG comes out to join DJ Mustard for “Twist my Fingaz” and “Why You Always Hatin.” Unfortunately, “FDT” is not played. (DDLC)
10:02 Tyler just hit the stage with Jasper Dolphin and some pyrotechnics and the flood of semi-conscious teens/early-twentysomethings marching/running to the stage looks like a scene from The Walking Dead. (JC)
10:06 I heard the most romantic thing by the men's restrooms, “Fuck, I fucking miss that bitch.” (DDLC)
10:33 Tyler faked the intro to “Yonkers” but the crowd kept going for the entire first verse. It was almost in rhythm. (JC)
10:39 Tyler brings out A$AP Rocky to squash any beef rumors that may still be circulating. (DDLC)
10:55 YG comes out to end Tyler's set with “FDT” and gives us all some release therapy as a huge “Fuck Donald Trump” chant breaks out among the crowd. YG ends the set by yelling, “Racist ass motherfucker, you can suck my dick.” (DDLC)
10:56 All of A$AP Mob came out for a song with Tyler and then he brought out YG to do “FTD” at the end of his set. Oh, and “DEATHCAMP” is pretty incredible with 40,000 people participating. (JC)
11:07 Kehlani performed on the other stage while Tyler was on, but everyone was at the party next door. #NailedIt (JC)
11:16 Mass amounts of Odd Future fans are bailing now that Tyler’s done.
11:30 I’m eating a $15 grilled cheese while watching the DJ warm the crowd up for Lil Wayne by using Lil Wayne songs. Not sure why, but this seems like the right thing to be doing. (JC)
11:35 Lil Wayne looks genuinely happy and grateful to be headlining Camp Flog Gnaw. He keeps telling the crowd, “One, I ain't shit without god. Two, I ain't shit without you, And three, I ain't shit without you.”(DDLC)
11:38 He’s probably just really really high, but Wayne looks confused on stage. Maybe YG explained Black Lives Matter to him. (JC)
11:40 “A Milli” drops and the crowd recites the song word per word. (DDLC)
11:46 I can’t tell if Lil Wayne is wearing a tall tee or a nightgown. (Eran Ryan)
12:07 a.m. Wayne just brought Chris Brown on stage and showers him with praise. Not everyone in the crowd has forgotten Brown’s problems outside of music. (JC)
12:22 Maybe I missed it, but I don’t think Weezy did an entire song from start to finish once during his set. (JC)
12:24 This is probably one of the most fun and most organized festivals I've been to this year. Why? Well, for starters, I don't feel like I'm in danger like I did at Beach Goth. (DDLC)
12:31 What if these kids who can’t even stand on their way to the Metro were just playing a drinking game for every time they saw someone in a Yeezy shirt and/or overalls? I’d be dead by now. (JC)
Sunday 11/13
2:07 p.m. If you’re not into the music, all of the teenagers who can’t handle their drugs and liquor make for some great entertainment around the carnival rides. (JC)
2:31 If I had to pick one
3:46 Tyler just rode past a bunch of fans on a golf
3:52 Kali Uchis dresses like if Tim Burton invented a Kardashian. (JC)
4:09 I’ve already heard “Black Beatles” a handful of times this weekend, so I no longer need to see Rae Sremmurd again later. (JC)
4:10 Kali Uchis brings a young lady onstage to sing along with her, but things become incredibly awkward as the young lady openly admits that she doesn't know any of Kali's lyrics. Yikes. (DDLC)
4:24 “Mike G for President” actually doesn’t seem like such a bad option anymore. Can the rest of Odd Future be his cabinet? (JC)
4:38 Randy’s Donuts slashed the price on their Flog Gnaw shirt and now the line is longer than any line for cronuts has ever been. It’s still half the length of Action Bronson’s “Fuck, That’s Delicious” Chinese Take-Out stand, but this is just for mediocre donuts and a white t-shirt. (JC)
4:51 I appreciate Odd Future bringing skate culture and clothing into the next generation, but I have to wonder how many of these kids in Thrasher shirts and Vans have ever actually stepped foot on a skateboard. (JC)
5:03 Overheard: “I don’t know who this Gallant guy is, but I think he’s pretty big. I heard he’s got a song with Seal or some shit.” (JC)
5:17 The number of face and hand tattoos on people under the age of 25 is pretty remarkable, particularly considering that a lot of them don’t have much other ink. (JC)
5:34 If my count is correct, Taco is the fifth member of Odd Future I’ve seen perform this weekend. (Sorry, Left Brain, you went on early and the Metro was slow.) (JC)
6:22 A guy by me is wearing a “Mr. West 2020” pull over with a cartoon picture of Kanye West. I want to hi-five this guy so much. (DDLC)
6:28 I see a young Latina millennial sneak in pepper spray. Considering that we're at Exposition Park at night and Donald fucking Trump is our
6:30 Taco’s set is actually just a Dillon Francis DJ set hosted by Taco with a special guest appearance from Vince Staples. I predicted Vince as a special guest, but I’m not sure anyone called Dillon Francis. The crowd was
6:43 Flatbush Zombies take the cake for the best intro with their space-themed bit for 3001: A Laced Odyssey. They’ve even got fans climbing in the trees to get a glimpse of it. (JC)
6:49 I've seen
6:52 Once again, I start seeing crowd casualties before 7:00. A girl just passed out near me and her friends are going straight Weekend at Bernie’s to watch the rest of Flatbush Zombies. (JC)
7:03 I just met a 20-year-old guy named Steven who is a die-hard Tyler, the Creator fan. So much so, he flew in all the way from Boston just to see Tyler. (DDLC)
7:07 A young woman just had a guy hold a portable mini LED light up by her as she snapped a selfie by the Randy's/Odd Future blow-up donut. The vanity is real. (DDLC)
7:13 The bucket hats are officially out for Schoolboy Q tonight. (JC)
7:39 Based on the handful I’ve seen today, I’d guess that the stretcher count for the weekend must be in the dozens. Security is now throwing water into the crowd to help with dehydration. (JC)
7:47 Pretty evenly split crowd between
8:10 To recap, Bronson shouted out Will Smith, Suicide Squad, every race and nationality he could think of, and then broke the microphone by dropping it and said “What?! It flew out of my hand! That shit was hot!” If he’s not the most charismatic guy in hip-hop right now, he’s certainly within the top few. (JC)
8:14
8:30 Bronson just said he had a lot of weed to throw into the crowd (which he often does at concerts) but he was told he’d get sued if he did that. Instead, he offered to give it to people at his Chinese Take-Out booth. Also, both he and Chance performed “Baby Blue” in their own sets, but we can’t get them together just yet. (JC)
8:42 Mac Miller comes out
8:51 There’s drunken relationship advice being thrown around this music festival like a fucked up version of Dr. Phil. (JC)
9:14 Erykah Badu is about to perform and so much of the crowd looks so burnt out that it’s borderline depressing. (JC)
9:51 “Let me show you first timers what I've been learning for the last 20 years. Keep in mind, I'm an artist and I'm sensitive about my shit.” Badu says to her crowd of millennials who begin to cheer. (DDLC)
10:07 Even if she’s been performing for longer than most of the audience has been alive, there’s really no substitute for Badu. She’s the national treasure we need at a time like this. (JC)
10:19 All day, people have been speculating that the surprise guest after Badu would be Frank Ocean. A group of teenage boys by me start obnoxiously yelling, “Frank! Where's Frank?!” during Erykah Badu's set. How dare these infants disrespect a queen. (DDLC)
10:30 Badu was just told to stop her set when she thought she still had 11 minutes left. Although her stunned reaction was pretty priceless, it sucks that her set got cut short by some early technical difficulties. (JC)
10:51 Earl Sweatshirt is the special guest, which means we all get an EarlWolf reunion. Domo,
10:52 Tyler whips out his bright yellow inhaler during his set with Earl Sweatshirt and starts to take a few hits before wilding out. (DDLC)
11:05 Tyler did “DEATHCAMP” again, because why wouldn’t he? It’s Tyler’s weekend after all. (JC)
11:36 Schoolboy Q’s DJ has been stalling for a solid 20 minutes now. A good portion of the crowd left after EarlWolf was done. (JC)
11:41 Schoolboy Q is definitely looking leaner than ever, but the most shocking thing is he’s not wearing a bucket hat. All of those bucket hat-wearing fans must feel betrayed. (JC)
11:43 Q drops Kendrick's verse from “M.A.A.D. City” without an appearance from Kendrick. The tease is real.
11:59 Schoolboy Q keeps telling his crowd to open up a mosh pit and that they're not loud enough. My friend says out loud, “Poor Q, he probably thinks he sucks.” (DDLC)
11:53 The clothing and merch
12:12 a.m. I walked out of the festival while Schoolboy Q did “Studio” and got directly on to the Metro waiting for us. This was everything Day N Night wanted to be. (JC)
Josh Chesler used to play baseball for some pretty cool teams, but now he just writes about awesome stuff like tattoos, music, MMA and sneakers. He enjoys injuring himself by skateboarding, training for fights, and playing musical instruments in his off time.