Ice Cube, Nipsey Hussle Tribute and All Things West Coast At The 2nd Annual “Welcome to the West” Festival

It’s sum­mer­time in Los Ange­les, that means sun­shine, music fes­ti­vals and good times. That’s exact­ly what Wel­come To The West Music Fes­ti­val founders Jason Gazz­i­ni and E.D.I. Don are bring­ing to the Toy­ota Are­na in Ontario on Sept. 20. We had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to get the inside scoop about what is about to go down at the 2nd annu­al Wel­come To The West Music Fes­ti­val!

Wel­come To The West Music Fes­ti­val is a fes­ti­val ded­i­cat­ed to all things West Coast. Bring­ing a spot­light to the tal­ent in Cal­i­for­nia, Wel­come To The West Music Fes­ti­val is sym­bol­ic to the west coast cul­ture and lifestyle. “We just noticed a void for true, authen­tic west coast rep­re­sen­ta­tion,” says co-founder E.D.I. All the prod­ucts, ven­dors and artists are from the west coast area, mak­ing this the first fes­ti­val of its kind!

Last year’s sold-out inau­gur­al fes­ti­val was head­lined by the late rap­per Nipsey Hus­sle, who passed away in March when he was gunned down out­side his Cren­shaw dis­trict cloth­ing store, The Marathon Cloth­ing. For their sopho­more year, the founders have planned a spe­cial trib­ute and cel­e­bra­tion of life to hon­or his pass­ing. 

“It was tru­ly an hon­or to have had such an inspi­ra­tional and social­ly impact­ful artist play as our first head­lin­er. We look for­ward to cel­e­brat­ing Nipsey Hussle’s leg­endary musi­cian­ship and remem­ber­ing his pos­i­tive influ­ence on oth­ers, as the music com­mu­ni­ty and beyond con­tin­ue in mourn­ing his pass­ing,” said the founders in a release.

This year’s fes­ti­val is stacked with the best from the west. Ice Cube, leg­endary Los Ange­les rap­per, will be head­lin­ing along with per­for­mances by Rod­dy Rich, Dom Kennedy, Too Short, Dj Quik, King Lil G and many more. Bone Thugs-N-Har­mo­ny were recent­ly added to the line­up as a per­for­mance on the main stage. 

The founders have been in oper­a­tion for 3 years, host­ing over 70 shows. They’ve worked with mul­ti­ple are­nas and night­clubs on both a domes­tic and inter­na­tion­al scale, as well as artists such as Guc­ci Mane and Ty Dol­la $ign. For any­one look­ing to get start­ed in event plan­ning Gazz­i­ni says, “plan­ning and prepar­ing is every­thing. Make sure you know all the mov­ing parts and pieces.”

It’s the fes­ti­val of the summer,“it’s more than music;it’s a brand, a cul­ture, and a lifestyle,” as the founders described the all-inclu­sive west coast expe­ri­ence. You don’t want to wait to get your tick­ets and miss the amaz­ing per­for­mances and trib­utes. You can get your tick­ets HERE. 

Blogged By: Cor­nelia Nichol­son

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