Mark Stefanos
Roaring into the Arts District last Sunday on a toasty Labor Day Weekend, ten prominent LA party collectives came together for this year’s Block Party Presented by LoveChild. Between an indoor and outdoor stage, it was a full day and night of music and dancing, capping off the summer with a showcase of the best of LA’s vibrant urban culture. LoveChild gave us a lesson on what putting the city on your back truly looks and sounds like.
Taking place at the complex known as 9ThirtyLA, staggered sets ranging from one to two hours had each stage pumping their own flavor of music and vibe from the different collectives.
The crowd at the outdoor stage of The Block Party Presented by LoveChild (@K_the_Lens_ for LA Weekly)
At the outdoor stage, VIM! showcased their African influences with a bouncefest; Junkyard Jouvert brought their celebratory Caribbean Jouvert all night dance party to the afternoon sun, an LA Weekly favorite highlighted in 2023; Pangea Sound, an appointment party for years, brought their global sound from continents on both sides of the Atlantic, also one of our 2024 picks; Hardly Home, justly represented West Indian, Mexican, Congolese and Palestinian heritage, another that we highlighted last year; and the Afro Latina led ¡Baile! World kept us dancing outside til the lights turned off.
At the indoor stage, &things represented the best of black culture; the eclectic Nsidevoices brought their premium selects; the female-led JSTAPARTY kept things fabulous; the team of Filipinos behind Slow Jamz mixed R&B currents and classics in an endless singalong; and Interlude, the mainstay of Thursday nights, closed the indoors with nonstop bangers.
Swag Surfin’ at the indoor stage (@K_the_Lens_ for LA Weekly)
Additional sets came from Raw Hunny, ISSAMAU, LEXAPEEL, Angela Austria and Olea of Soulection, and special guests included Kal Banx, City James, Mark Lux, Sham 1016, and rapper Buddy. The event was complemented by 25 original eye-popping videos by BASEWOOD, spearheaded by director City James, showcasing the collaboration of culture. Drinks flowed and stands dotted the block with foods and goods from around the globe.
Waseel Amoura, VP of Marketing for LoveChild and Founder of Hardly Home (@K_the_Lens_ for LA Weekly)
Getting ten party collectives for one big bash, in short, is crazy. “We are preparing to build a tiny city in one day,” LoveChild CEO and Founder Ryan Sauter says, “You start with a timeline, then a budget, and then you are inundated with unsexy but essential tasks like permitting and safety, procuring vendors, and programming.”
“It was definitely a major undertaking,” adds Waseel Amoura, VP of Marketing for LoveChild and the Founder of Hardly Home, which also drove the lineup curation and marketing. “There were a lot of moving parts, getting all the collectives on board, planning all the logistics, and making everything come together in under a month’s time. It was hectic but very fulfilling.”
They both credited the LoveChild team for being a well-oiled machine, shouting out their Director of Operations Shay Lewis.
It wasn’t their first rodeo — last year’s Block Party brought out 4,200 people and featured performances by 4Batz, SMINO, P-Lo, Buddy, Westside Boogie and Chuck Inglish. This year topped it, bringing more people in from the various corners of the city with a turnout cracking the 5,000 mark. It required an extensive permitting process to be in full alignment with the City of LA.
LA has a long lore of squabbles between party collectives, but there were no egos detected at the event. We asked if there was friction in the lead-up but were told, surprisingly, there really wasn’t any.
Ryan Sauter, LoveChild CEO and Founder (Jonathan Jericho @jonathan.Jericho)
“I think that’s something that people underestimate about LA,” says Waseel. “I think people are yearning for more unity in times like these. It felt like a no-brainer when we spoke on the vision of highlighting the culture of LA, and every collective felt the same.”
“The North Star of the event was to celebrate LA and its mosaic of neighborhoods,” adds Ryan, “There was no friction; there was mutual respect amongst these artists, so collaboration came easily.”
This spirit of unity seemed to be the pervasive feeling of the whole event. And it’s a sentiment that has floated through the air since January, when the city came together in response to the devastating wildfires.
During that traumatic period, LA collectives IHeartComix, Brownies & Lemonade and others embarked on a similar undertaking, bringing 11 parties together for the LA Gives Back fire benefit show. Bouncing between some of our favorite parties at the Bellwether that night was a real treat, feeling almost like a festival of LA’s DIY scene — of course, with the backdrop of supporting those impacted by the tragedy.
Last weekend’s Block Party felt a lot like that. And while we’re removed from the need for fire relief, the LoveChild team answered that call when the city was in flames at the start of this year, putting together their own comprehensive fire relief efforts.
They immediately sprang into action, turning 9ThirtyLA into a donation drop-off center and shelter, becoming a main distribution hub for other shelters, and dispersing thousands of donations. They also threw a benefit concert featuring SABA, Samara Cyn, Buddy and Ben Reilly, along with DJ sets from their residents Kazadi, Waseel, Dirty Dell and VivaLatina, and friends Thrice Groove and Zyah Belle.
9ThirtyLA turned into a fire relief center in January, 2025. (Photo: Instagram screenshot @waseelwav)
That instinct to unite and give back makes Ryan, who hails from Riverside, and Waseel, who came down from the Bay some years ago, champions of their chosen home.
“It’s meaningful to me because LoveChild was created to bring people together — so launching it with a block party is my love letter to Los Angeles,” says Ryan, noting that the event should set the tone for future LoveChild experiences, aiming “to celebrate the multicultural mash-up that powers LA.”
“The Block Party is a full-circle representation of everything beautiful about Los Angeles — the culture, the music, the people, the food, and the energy that makes this city special,” says Waseel. “The event was designed to feel like LA at its best: vibrant, diverse, and unapologetically creative.”
The Block Party Presented by LoveChild on the September 5, 2025 cover of LA weekly (Photo: @K_the_Lens_ for LA Weekly; design: Mark Stefanos)