Now in its sixth year, Lyrical Lemonade’s Summer Smash music festival – billed as the world’s largest independent hip-hop festival – returned to suburban Bridgeview’s SeatGeek Stadium for the second time with a big impact, and a few big delays.
Presented by hip hop blog-turned-creative entrepreneurial empire Lyrical Lemonade and production company SPKRBX, this year’s headliners include Cactus Jack (the neo-supergroup of Travis Scott, Don Toliver, Sheck Wes, Sofaygo, and DJ Chase B named for Scott’s record label to which they’re all signed), Playboi Carti, and Chicago drill’s embattled, prodigal son, Chief Keef – performing the closest to his home city in 12 years. Other big-name acts set to play the long weekend include Big Sean, Flo Milli, Waka Flocka Flame, Mick Jenkins, and Lil Yachty, among others.
Friday saw thousands of attendees flood the parking lot of SeatGeek Stadium (recently named the site for this year’s Riot Fest) for the first of three bass-soaked days of what were commonly referred to by fans as some of the most exciting, up-and-coming acts in the genre.
The likes of That Mexican OT, Destroy Lonely, CLIP, Bktherula, Dom Corleo, and BLP Kosher don’t have much name recognition just yet, but the size and ferocity of their audiences showed they’ve struck a chord with insatiable young listeners. Additionally, the fanfare around this year’s lineup further solidified Lyrical Lemonade founder and noted music video director, Cole Bennett’s status as an artist-breaking power-player in the evolving landscape of hip-hop and rap media.
“It’s come so far from Douglass Park,” says Ryan Calhoun, 24, who has been coming to the festival since its inception on Chicago’s West Side in 2018. “I love what Cole’s been doing. He’s doing a great job. He’s got Chief Keef back, from what I’ve read he’s helped get him back to Chicago and I’ve always wanted to see him perform so I’m excited to see that for the first time. (SeatGeek Stadium) is great, it’s so much bigger. This is my favorite festival. I don’t care what people say about Coachella. I’ve been to Lollapalooza, I’ve been to North Coast. Summer Smash is where it’s at.”
For Calhoun, Summer Smash is an opportunity for discovery as well as to see the culture come to life.
“It’s all about what people want music-wise. Cole knows what to cater to. Having Destroy Lonely here and the whole Opium Tour (the collective including fellow Summer Smash performers Playboi Carti, and Ken Carson), having them together as a group – that’s crazy. Having Travis and his group performing together for the first time – that’s crazy! To experience this much. I’ve been coming since I was 19, I’m about to turn 25 next month. Summer Smash is like a rite of passage.”
With three stages – the main, Lyrical Lemonade stage and tented Drink Lyrical stage on the outside grounds, and the SPKRBX stage within the confines of the stadium – fans were tasked with much back-and-forth and lots of stairs to catch bite-sized sets, some of which were no more than 15 to 20 minutes. Two of Friday’s best belonged to Big Sean and Flo Milli, who each impressed audiences with undeniable skill and stage presence. Where Sean dug into his lengthy catalog, treating his 45 minutes like a victory lap and celebration of his come-up during the mid-aughts blog-era of hip hop, the effervescent Flo Milli – one of few female artists on the bill – took her viral hits like “Conceited,” “Got the Juice” and “Never Lose Me” to the crowd, making them an integral part of her performance and setting off a joyous party.
For Nia Grant, 23, and Mariam Jalloh, 25 from Columbus, Ohio, Summer Smash is the first and only music festival they’ve attended.
“This is our second Summer Smash,” Grant says, “and Cole did amazing with this lineup, he knew what he was doing. He has a special way of picking who has potential and securing who’s already up there. I just think it’s great. Music festivals should keep growing and becoming more of a thing. When I was younger, for people my age, we’d go to individual concerts, but this is our favorite. It’s a surprise how music festivals even work – how many artists come and how much you get to see. It rained last year, but it was still fun.”
“It was a moment, you just connect with everyone,” Jalloh adds. “I love that about music festivals. Everyone’s here for the same thing.”
While the festival iteration of “Lemonade” has faced a number of trials since it began – technical difficulties at the combined media, VIP, and artist guest check-in (pushing entry back nearly an hour due to staff unfamiliarity with the bracelet scanner), lack of water replenishment for press, and a nearly 40-minute wait for mainstage closers Cactus Jack left some questioning why an undertaking of this caliber still can’t work out the kinks.
“Every year, just like last year,” one frustrated cameraman lamented in line.
It was at the night’s end, however, that the displeasure with disorganization nearly came to a head.
The anticipation for Cactus Jack was palpable, as many were under the impression the set would be the group’s first-ever joint performance since the release of the collaborative album, 2019’s “JACKBOYS.” But as the slated 9:45 p.m. start time came and went, frustrations intensified. After 30 minutes, with the shared understanding that the festival would have to end by 11 p.m. or face fines for breaking the village’s noise ordinance, a roaring “BOOOO!” enveloped the park. On social media, fans had already begun sharing instances of being crushed up against the barricades as restlessness ensued, with many sharing that they were asked to be pulled out of the pit by security.
But booing be damned. Forty minutes was a small price to pay for fans as each member took the stage individually, performing four to five of their own hits.
Though Sofaygo, Sheck Wes, and Don Toliver held their own captive audiences for their mini-sets, it was Travis Scott who reignited the semi-disillusioned crowd with songs like “Antidote”, “Nightcrawler,” “Sicko Mode” and “Mamacita.” Taking the stage shortly after 11 p.m., Scott joined Toliver for “Can’t Say” before tearing into his own “Butterfly Effect” — complete with fireworks.
Known for his intensely high-energy shows, Scott restarted his track “FE!N” four times, pausing to scold the crowd for taking videos instead of moshing, stating “You don’t video the rage.”
Not entirely the Cactus Jack set folks were hoping for, folks began heading for the parking lot and ride-shares as the group finally took the stage together, doing two songs – helmed by the favorite “Gang Gang” – to cap the night at 11:50 p.m., well past curfew. Whether or not the festival will incur fines has not been confirmed, as the Village of Bridgeview and the local police department did not return the Tribune’s request for comment.
Still, the mishaps weren’t enough to overshadow the spirit of the very much youth-driven culture and tastes Bennett, a Plano native, and “Lemonade” have captured and come to dictate over the last 10 years, for better or worse. Photo ops designed like sets from some of his biggest music videos including the late Juice Wrld’s “Lucid Dreams,” Cordae and Juice Wrld’s “Doomsday” from 2023’s “All Is Yellow,” and Jack Black’s “Peaches” from the Super Mario Bros. movie were stationed in the center of the field, and as temperatures dropped by the end of the night, it seemed like a majority of guests had sprung for the pricey, commemorative Summer Smash hoodie sold at the merch booths. What Bennett and Company have built is aspirational, particularly to Gen Z – the first generation of digital natives who’ve grown up seeing others use modern technology to create profitable business ventures rooted in their hobbies – and the festival serves as the entry point to becoming part of that universe.
Neeno Laflair of OTS, a hemp-based clothing brand founded by Ivan Diaz, was celebrating as a first-time vendor this year after attending the festival for the last three years.
“Ivan met Cole at the community clean-up and he just shot his shot. Cole’s such a good dude with such a genuine heart, he actually let him vend here. It’s literally one of our dreams, it’s amazing to see it come true,” Laflair says of the experience. “Some of the magic leaves a little bit, but you get to see what it’s really like behind the scenes. You also get to see, up close and personal, a lot of your favorite people that you might only see on YouTube or TV screens. It’s dope.”
According to Laflair, having a space like Summer Smash, a safe space for people to enjoy and celebrate the culture, means everything. This year, he explains, feels like “a graduation” for him personally, and notes that the collective energy and vibes of the music festival have kept an overall positive energy amongst fellow attendees.
Also taking in the spectacle from the other side of the tents, chef Rafa Esparza of the buzzworthy, fearless food pop-up Fafo (currently in residence at Moneygun in River North), at the festival as a Pizza Puff vendor for the second time, sees the collective experience more of a reflection of what music festival culture has become over that of a generational divide.
“People who come to these kinds of shows, people who pay a lot of money to come and see a show – they feel like they’re on top of the world,” Esparza observes. “They’re around their peers. Everybody’s nice, but you watch people take pictures, it’s funny. But they’re in their element. You can’t be mad, that’s what this is. They’re with like-minded people. I’m not with it, I’m the weirdo, I know my place,” he laughs. “But the people-watching from this side is great. And I’m here for Waka Flocka Flame. I love Waka.”
With two days remaining, it’s highly doubtful any Day One hiccups deterred anyone from returning. The cultural pulse is too strong. Summer Smash is here to stay.
Jessi Roti is a freelance writer.
