10 Sets You Need To Catch At HARD Summer This Weekend

Since the brand’s inception back in 2007, Gary Richards has consistently been bringing the heat every year for HARD Summer. Better known as Destructo, Richards is the founder of HARD Presents, leader of the Ship Fam and overseer of the company’s various assets such as Holy Ship!, HARD Day of the Dead and more. This year, HARD Summer attendees will experience the annual festival in a new light and in a new place. For the first time ever, Richards has relocated the event to Fontana, California inside the Auto Club Motor Speedway. With major acts like Major Lazer, Dillon Francis, Malaa, Flosstradamus, Ice Cube and many more set to feature, this year's edition of the festival is set to be one for the books. And so, for those of you heading out to HARD Summer this weekend, we've put together our list of 10 acts that you must catch in order to get the full HARD experience. 1) Ice Cube An artist that doesn’t fall under the “dance music” category, Ice Cube is no doubt a huge draw for this year's HARD event. Since the 1980’s, the artist/actor has not disappointed when it comes to his wide range of talents. Whether it be penning the memorable lyrics in songs like “Straight Outta Compton” and “Fuck The Police,” or selling over 10 million albums, Ice Cube has remained relevant thanks to his ability to adapt to progressive trends in the ever-changing music industry. 2) Baauer Harry Bauer Rodrigues is hands-down one of the best American electronic music producers at the moment. This weekend finds Baauer in the midst of his summer tour, blasting the sounds of his recently released debut studio album, Aa all over the world. Baauer’s sets have been packed with one-of- a-kind beats and unwavering energy levels, and at this year's HARD Summer, you can expect to get lost in his own strain of experimental electronic music. 3) Mr. Carmack With his outstanding production and eclectic sounds, Hawaii based producer Mr. Carmack has certainly made a name for himself in the realm of Experimental Trap. Straying away from the norm, Carmack brings a plethora of different tracks and sounds in every set he plays, and each time he takes the stage it's a sight to behold. In his most recent release, Yellow, the producer truly showcased his talent, bringing us a massive EP that arrived just in time for his set at HARD Summer. 4) Slushii In what's certainly one of the more anticipated sets of the weekend, rising DJ/producer Slushii will be performing at HARD Summer on day one at the Green Stage. Since hopping on the Redlight Management team, Slushii has rapidly become of the most exciting faces in the electronic music space. As the young dance music act continues to grow, he's tackled a variety of genres and managed to “slush up” and recreate them all into visions of his own, as well as producing an impressive arsenal of original tracks like “So Long” featuring Madi, “All For You,” “All I Ever Wanted” and many more. The extremely addictive style of EDM Slushii has been pushing in the scene has paved his way to becoming the big name music act he deserves to be. After delivering a highly acclaimed Beats 1 Radio Mix, you can be sure that Slushii will bring the same vibes to the Green Stage starting at 6:45pm on Saturday. 5) MC Ren & DJ Yella of NWA Possibly one of the most exciting guests on the line-up this year is MC Ren and DJ Yella of NWA. This will be the second time this reunion has happened in festival history, as we saw them together during weekend one of Coachella back in April. Since 1987, MC Ren has had success in both the NWA and in his solo career. He was initially a member of World Calss Wreckin’ Cru along with Dr. Dre and later became one of the founders of the NWA. DJ Yella, meanwhile, has produced a multitude of tracks for the group and has also worked on albums for Eazy-E, Yomo & Maulkie and J.J. Fad. This special guest will no doubt be one of the highlights of HARD Summer this year, and you better make a point to be in the audience for them. 6) Dillon Francis Did you even really go to HARD Summer if you didn’t see Dillon Francis? While there are many musical acts on the roster that deserve a shoutout, Dillon is one of the faces of HARD, literally; his absolutely hilarious roles in the many trailers that the company puts out for HARD Summer and DOTD makes him a staple set to catch each and every year. Over the course of the past few months, Dillon Francis has remained fairly quiet in terms of releasing new material to his massive fanbase, which can only mean that his set is about to be ID central - trust us, you don't want to miss this one. 7) Tchami French house producer Tchami, has shown no signs of slowing down lately. Since his debut release of his first EP Promesses in 2013, he's collaborated with some of the biggest names in dance music. Not only has Tchami had releases with DJ Snake, AlunaGeorge and AC Slater, but he's also recently launched his own label, Confession. With its constant, bass filled, deep house releases, there's no doubt that Tchami will be pulling out all the stops to bring fans a heavy dose of bass house during his set this year. 8) Flosstradamus Longtime trap runners and HDY NATION chiefs Josh Young and Curt Cameruci of Flosstradamus will be taking the HARD Stage at 10pm on Saturday evening. The fact that Flosstradamus is playing a late-night slot on day one of HARD Summer 2016 speaks volumes louder than anything I could say to describe to someone who has yet to experience a late-night Floss set. While you can expect there to be the finest in trap music bellowing out of the HARD Stage sound system, you can also expect an absolutely insane experience. There’s just something about these guys taking the stage late at night that significantly raises energy levels. 9) Destructo As previously mentioned in the beginning of this piece, Destructo is the guy running the entire show. The HARD team runs deep at their events, especially when it comes time for the head honcho himself to step up to the DJ table and show HARD Summer how it’s done right. Predominantly focused within the genre of house music, Richards has worked with many artists outside the electronic umbrella and always delivers an identifiable sound that only really resonates with his musical selections in a proper form. 10) Claude VonStroke Owner and founder of the incredibly successful Dirtybird Records, Claude VonStroke never disappoints when it comes to giving fans a fresh dose of quirky and bouncy tech-house. The producer started off in Detroit initially in the Hip-Hop scene until he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his passion for dance music. Since then, Claude has released three debut albums and has remixed artists ranging from Fedde Le Grand to Rihanna, in addition to teaming together with Green Velvet to create a funky, tech-house duo known as Get Real. Whether it be his ability to seek out incredible underground talent or release music on Dirtybird that's unique and fresh, VonStroke is an absolute force to be reckoned with.