Guide to Soundset 2019

Festival season is upon us and Soundset 2019 is right around the corner! Despite the sometimes mixed reviews about Soundset, one thing has always been clear to Culture Piece: Soundset is amazing, here to stay & a Minnesota staple! It’s now Culture Piece Magazine’s 4th consecutive year covering Soundset and my 6th year attending, so we figured it’s finally time to give you all a guide to Soundset 2019, which takes place on May 26th, for the newbies and blast to the past for all the returning festival goers!

Soundset is about all things hip hop & culture, from the music, the artists involved and the many attractions & mini events going on throughout the festival. Musicians ranging from locally known to international superstars, hip-hop to “trap”, with even a little R&B & Neo Soul thrown in the mix from time to time, the lineups are notorious. Whether you’ve been before or not, you’re sure to have heard about the crazy lineups that keep getting better every year.

This year Culture Piece is definitely looking forward to seeing SZA, DMX, Lil Uzi Vert (if he shows up this time!), Doja Cat and Lil Wayne (again, if he shows up lmao). Outside of the musicians, we will definitely be visiting the “Skateboard Showdown”, custom car show & the various local stores & businesses that have booths like b.resale!

If you haven’t gotten your tickets to Soundset yet, no worries! General Admission and VIP tickets are still available here!

We curated a nice little list of tips for getting through Soundset with a few of our favorite photo memories from past years included! Check them out and leave us a comment if we forget anything!

Tips For A Successful Soundset

Check the weather beforehand & dress appropriately!
- It’s tradition for it to rain every year at Soundset even if it’s not in the forecast somehow. Be prepared just in case that tradition sticks around for another year!
- It will be dusty! Bring a mask/bandana if you’re prone to being irritated by a lot of dusk. Also, don’t wear a ton of foundation ladies, you don’t want all that dirt sticking to your face (trust me, I’d know thanks to my first year at Soundset).
- Wear shoes that you don’t care about! They will be fucked up by the end of the festival!
Bring money for food/drinks!
- Don’t be that one person stuck without any water for a whole day in heat! There are free water stations, bring a water bottle or buy one there!
- Make sure you eat, you don’t want to be passing out like I did the first two years lmao!
- Don’t get too drunk! All that heat and being drunk is not a good mix! Get high instead haha!
Download the Soundset app!
- Time out what performers you want to see to make sure you have time to see everyone you want as a lot of the performances overlap with another one!
- The app will give your phone a reminder when your performer is about to come to stage in case you forget!
Technology
- Bring a portable charger! Your phone WILL die and you WILL be pissed once you can’t find your friends at the end of the day.
- Be aware that you probably won’t have signal for good periods of time during the festival.
- Keep your DSLR protected if you’re bringing one! Like I mentioned before, it’ll be dusty and you don’t want all that shit in your censors and whatnot once everything is over with.
Pick the right people to go with!
- Trust me. You don’t want to be stuck with a group of friends who want to one thing and you’re left disappointed wanting to do something else. See what you wanna see!
- Honestly, I’ve found that I’ve had the most fun when I just ventured off by myself from time to time.

Words by Maya Clark // @mayaexplains

All photographs by Culture Piece Magazine from Soundset 2016, 2017 & 2018 // @culturepiecemag