Day 1 Of #HARDSummer 10-Year Anniversary f. Destructo, Doctor P & Skepta

HARD Summer is finally here. And this year, it was at a brand new venue. Thank the Lord above because last year in Fontana was a fucking nightmare. It honestly so brutal lmao. This year was at the Glen Helen Amphitheater in San Bernadino, a couple hours outside of LA. Semi-familiar territory. I literally spent most of the day hiding in the media tent. Smh. The moment I parked my car, I felt like I was going to pass out. At 26 going on 27, I feel like it’s time to retire soon lmao.

i hate going to festivals dolo ☹️ someone hang out with me. @HARDFEST

— Shirley Ju (@shirju) August 5, 2017

Mood af. I was honestly so torn between HARD or Summertime In The LBC, but I knew I wanted to chat with Gary. He just ended his deal with Live Nation and I was curious to see where his mindset was. Tbh, I thought about hitting both, since 50 Cent and G-Unit didn’t go on until 10pm. But there was no chance. Long Beach was not on the way. And the FOMO was real.

10 year anniversary of @HARDFEST with @DestructoHARD 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/NPMw57EMYt

— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) August 6, 2017

10 years of HARD! Huge thanks to Alex for setting this up. She’s the fucking illest. I was escorted from the media area to Gary’s private trailer, behind the artist compound. She said this year, instead of a hotel, they just decided to camp out here overnight. Makes sense. The man of the weekend had to be accessible.

i have so much love and respect for @DestructoHARD. just spoke with him about his next ventures 💸

— Shirley Ju (@shirju) August 6, 2017

I literally catch him fresh out of the shower lmao. He said he just went into the crowd and danced with everyone. That’s what I LOVE about him. He’s so down for the cause. Down for the fans. And just down for the music. I remember I went to his show with E-40 at Avalon and in the middle of his set, he just goes in the crowd and says hi to everyone. Pictures and all. He’s a legend.

Whats crazy about this year is that he actually had Mobb Deep on the lineup for today. Now that Prodigy passed, he turned it into a tribute set with Havoc. Recruiting A-Trak is so fucking fire to me. Destructo handled that perfectly.

The best part of the interview was when his daughter came inside the trailer with a Destructo fidget spinner. It was so cute. Also, his dad popping in the shot to say hi. His dad was heavy in the Hip Hop game, working with some of the greats like Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash. Most definitely runs in the family.

After this interview, I wandered the artist area aimlessly and ran right into my favorite boss babe ever, Melissa. And it was her birthday! And she was working lmao. As always. Problem brought her out during his set (which was wild) and even gave her a birthday shout out. Cutest thing ever. I would def cry lmao.

bless @MMKpublicity for giving me a meal ticket at @HARDFEST 🎟 cue @isaiahrashad

— Shirley Ju (@shirju) August 6, 2017

My babe also hooked me up with a meal ticket. Omg. This is gold lmao. Ily, Melissa. Actually eating the food rn as we speak. At every festival, there’s a cafeteria, but only special people with special artist passes get to eat lmao. I’m usually the basic bitch on the outside looking in.

I wandered some more before I linked up with Doctor P. This guy brought me way back to my raving days, when dubstep was seriously life. I can’t even tell you how much of a little rave whore I was. I lived for drugs and music. Dubstep, trap, drum n bass… all that. And he was way too chill for words. So fucking calm. It’s brazy to me when these DJs who put on the most ridiculous sets are so timid behind closed doors.

finally saw @Skepta perform and he's dope af. @HARDFEST pic.twitter.com/zURCOn7iOQ

— Shirley Ju (@shirju) August 6, 2017

I was sad because I was supposed to speak with E-40, but he straight missed his 8pm set lmao. They said he was going to perform at 11pm, but who knows. It seemed like Skepta at the Purple stage was the move, so I tagged along with the homie Neal. We actually got a shuttle ride to the stage which was the most glorious thing to happen to me all day lmao. The life of an artist.

Ran into all the homies at this set. Skepta is fucking fire. He’s a grime rapper from the UK and just pops off. He performed “Crime Riddin” and “It Ain’t Safe.” I was happy to finally be out on festival grounds lmao. I forgot there was a show happening tbh.

On my way back, I got to see the entire main stage filled with Rae Sremmurd fans. It was PACKED. And it was beautiful. It was like one of those clips that you see on the Internet go viral because there are so many fucking people in attendance. I tried to find the photo pit but was too lazy and just decided to head back lmao. I literally tried so hard to grab a shuttle but they were not buying it lmao. Good thing I wore running shoes.