Mala Luna Music Festival was held in San Antonio, Texas at the parking lot of Nelson Wolff Stadium with its third year coming stronger than ever. Appearances from some of the biggest name in today’s rap culture and even in the Latino community as well, such as Cardi B, Tyler the Creator, Young Thug, 2 Chainz, Nicky Jam, and Becky G. If we had to sum up Mala Luna 2018 in three words it would be diverse, fun, and energetic. Throughout the weekend we experienced the most fun we had in a while, it not only came from just the music, but from the people. The food and the overall atmosphere of the festival put a cherry on top to our weekend experience. There was room for everyone to have their own types of fun at Mala Luna, for example..if you were into Spanish music there were enough latin artist on the Line Up, they had DJ for those who like the EDM scene of music festivals, and last but not least they had some for the ladies to enjoy like Cardi B, Rico Nasty, Becky G, and etc.  

The Day 1 experience, in our opinion, was for the ladies to enjoy with many artist that attract their likings like Cardi B, Becky G, and Nicky Jam. The day began with the opening of the gates right at 12:00 which it gathered already a crowd of people ready with excitement to start the festival. Once the doors had opened a burst of people began to run out to get to all the places and then head to the stages to get ready for a their favorite artists. As we made it into the festival we were greeted by some workers handing out drawstring backpacks to everyone that came in that contain inside a festival poster, a Whataburger coupon and a map of the festivals with all the info you need for the weekend involving Mala Luna. We decided to walk around to visit all the tents, see all the amazing art that they had created for the festival, and just all the amenities that came with being at Mala Luna. The first performers that appeared on stage were local San Antonio artists’ that Mala Luna decided to showcase. Following those artists’ was performances from Noah North and Wifisfuneral that gave a good start to the day giving good performances. During Wifisfuneral performance he came out unexpectedly turning up with the crowd stating that he was feeling good because he was already drunk leading to coming on stage. However, during his performance he took time to give a moment of silence for his deceased friend xxxTentacion while pouring some alcohol onto the floor and sharing a heartfelt story on their upbringing to becoming rappers. Unexpectedly it turned out that Rich the Kid could not make it to the festival so for a replacement they had Moneybagg Yo that was very interactive with the crowd and half of it was him getting up close and personal with his fans by getting to all different places of the railing so he can give his fans that sweet moment of being up close to their favorite artists. Coming to the end of his performance was Becky G up next that had attracted many latino’s to have their time to shine and go crazy singing along to some of the latin pop music that is out now she gave an extraordinary performance. Then, came probably the top 2 artist that everyone was waiting for the whole day, even having fans camping out just for them was Tyler the Creator and Cardi B. When Tyler came out it gave many people in the crowd that nostalgic feeling listening to him because of how long he has been a rapper and how much great music he has been putting out since our middle school days it was just the cherry on top with his great production and special effects. Finally, was for sure all the ladies were waiting for Cardi B who had just recently came out with a new single earlier in the week and coming off of pregnancy. It was her first concert she did since stopping before having the baby earlier in the year  and she did not miss a beat nor look any bit rusty giving a star studded presence that she was here to have fun with her fans. We can not imagine anyone better to have to have close the day than Cardi B she was amazing.

Day two came with whole different type of atmosphere with the acts of 2 chainz, Young Thug, Dillon Francis, Lil Pump and etc. This day felt far more wild and energetic than day one. The crowd that day was more filled with a much more younger people, with teenagers making mosh pits for every song, kids crowd surfing, and just kids letting it loose having their fun to some of their favorite artists. The day began with another local San Antonio artist to open up Sunday’s lineup she was an upcoming artist who was pretty good and even had her own stage dancers to add to her performance. Following her was another female performer named Saweetie, an upcoming rapper who gave an amazing performance from her stage dancers, to her interaction to the crowd, to even her DJ that before she came out had the crowd going crazy to today’s hottest songs like Mo Bamba and Sicko Mode. After Saweetie performance was where the wild day truly began with Smokepurpp coming out giving the crowd everything they wanted. That’s when the crowd of kids began doing their crazy antics to the point where Smokepurpp himself kept feeding off of and mentioning that the crowd was “lit and insane.” During his performance he gave a mention to his old friend xxxTentacion who was murdered earlier this year giving his part of the set to remember him by playing some of his popular music like Look at Me, and Sad! Next, to preform was Blocboy JB who had the crowd jumping and even dancing doing the shoot which is his popular song and dance that is well known to everyone. As that performance came to an end it was time for another big upcoming artist that has had a big year and a lot of buzz around his name which is Gunna. He came out dipping out too hard rocking a poncho, off white vlone, and that swagger that all the teenagers loves him for. With him having a huge crowd watching his set he did not disappoint playing some off his recent songs that he just release off of the collaboration with Lil Baby Drip Harder. Finally, what was probably the most anticipated artist that everyone came to see that day in our opinion was Young Thug, now this crowd was huge having from people from all types of ages waiting about a hour and half for the rapper. Once he came out the crowd went nuts for him yelling and singing along to every word of each song he performed.With Lil pump picking up what the other artist had left for the crowd a ragger type performance getting the crowd going bezerk for every song he played and trying to start mosh pits before the beginning of every song. He as well gave a shout to the deceased rapper xxxTentacion playing some of his songs during his set giving everyone in the crowd that moment to remember who he was. As the festival was coming to an end, the closing acts of Dillon Francis, and 2 Chainz gave the bittersweet ending to what was a great festival.

Overall, our weekend was amazing in San Antonio attending Mala Luna Music Festival - it had everything a festival could have asked for great variety of artists, awesome food, and great people everywhere. In the words of Cardi B, “Mala Luna, y'all are lit, and the food here is amazing, it has had me farting all day.” 

Written by: Victor Morales and Mariela Vazquez

Photographs by: Victor Morales and Mariela Vazquez