ASAP Rocky to headline Rolling Loud Festival in California after trial

ASAP Rocky, who is set to face a criminal trial over gun charges later this month, has been announced as a headline act at the Californian Rolling Loud Festival in March.

The US rapper is billed to top performances at the Hollywood Park Grounds in Los Angeles on Saturday March 15, with Playboi Carti headlining the Sunday stage of the hip-hop festival.

The announcement comes weeks before Rocky is set to face a jury on charges that he fired a gun at a former friend and collaborator on the streets near a Hollywood hotel in 2021.

Rocky, real name Rakim Mayers, previously pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.

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The trial had been scheduled to start on November 12 2024, but his team previously requested that it be postponed because Rocky was set to headline the Rolling Loud music festival in Thailand.

A case readiness hearing is expected to take place on January 15, ahead of jury selection on January 21, with the trial expected to last two weeks.

Rocky could be sentenced to 24 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

The trial also comes before the 2025 Met Gala in May, where Rocky has been selected to serve as a co-chairman alongside Pharrell Williams, Sir Lewis Hamilton, Colman Domingo and LeBron James acting as the honorary co-chairman.

The hip-hop star, fashion mogul and two-time Grammy nominee shares two children with pop star Rihanna.

The couple’s first child, RZA, was born in May 2022, while their son Riot Rose was born in August 2023.

Last month, the pair arrived at London’s Fashion Awards where Rocky received the cultural innovator award celebrating a leader who has created “viral fashion moments which have had a profound impact on the fashion industry and wider culture” over the last year.

It came after Rocky brought his zeitgeisty style to the global stage at the Paris Fashion Week in June, debuting his AWGE runway collection American Sabotage.

Rolling Loud, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, will also feature performances from Mexican star Peso Pluma and former Migos frontman, Quavo.