Two thousand and twelve is turning out to be a year of firsts for me. As previously reported, a few XXL staffers traveled to Austin, TX for South By Southwest last month. There, we got to interview everyone from T.I. to Mystikal, attended numerous shows and kicked it with the homies Mac Miller and Asher Roth, among others. I knew the Coachella Valley Music Arts and Festival would be different, but I still didn't know quite what to expect. I took to Coachella with Beats By Dre and my HTC One phone in tow. See how it all went down.— Carl Chery (@cchery)

Friday April 20, 2012... 7:00 a.m.
With no sign of a Hudson News—not sure why I was being so brand-faithful to a newsstand—I settled for this store called Relay to get some reading material before my flight. Seconds after paying for my selections—GQ with cover star Derrick Rose and Esquire with Robert Downey, Jr.—I spot Jermaine Dupri walking to his gate. I wonder if we're on the same flight.

Friday April 20, 9:46 a.m.
Seconds after landing in Los Angeles, I spot JD. It turns out we were on the same flight.

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Friday April 20, 2012... 2:30 p.m.
After finally arriving to Indio, CA, I settle in, but not in time to catch Kendrick Lamar, who is performing at 2:40. I unfortunately miss K. Dot. There's not really anyone of interest to watch until Frank Ocean at 8:15, so I lay low at the hotel until showtime.

Friday April 20, 2012... 7:45 p.m.
I'm ready to go and ask directions to Coachella. The guy at the front desk and most of the valet attendants struggle to explain the route.

Friday April 20, 2012... 8:30 p.m.
Deja vu. As I'm driving to Coachella—it turns out the route was fairly simple after all—I get a text from my friend Karen. "He performing new music," she texts. "You and ur HTC phone are losing." Well, I don't have a flip cam. I have an HTC One phone. But, I was clearly losing.

Friday April 20, 2012... 8:55 p.m.
I finally make it to Frank Ocean's performance and get to hear "Novacane." Luckily, he stays on the piano a little bit longer, so I can technically say I've seen Frank Ocean. Day One at Coachella is pretty much a wash, so I go see Black Keys to end the day.

TO READ DAY TWO OF COACHELLA, GO TO THE NEXT PAGE

Saturday April 21, 2012... 10:27 a.m.
Minutes after getting breakfast with YN, I get a text that Dave Chappelle walked into the restaurant right as we were leaving.

Saturday April 21, 2012... 12:31 p.m.
After an hour-long workout, I leave the gym and come face to face with Dave Chappelle. I introduce myself, tell him I'm a big fan and inquire about taking a photo for this diary. He declines. He's still diesel in case you're wondering.

Saturday April 21, 2012... 1:45 p.m.
Ray Alba from Interscope picks me up and we head to Coachella to check out Azaelia Banks and Childish Gambino.

Saturday April 21, 2012... 2:45 p.m.
Vanessa Simmons is spotted minutes before the start of Azaelia Banks's performance.

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Saturday April 21, 2012... 3:05 p.m.
Azaelia is doing her thing. Perhaps more impressively, she's rocking a leather outfit and a long wig in 100-plus weather and is barely breaking a sweat. Banks does a very good job during her cover of Amy Winehouse's "Valerie." And that's coming from an Amy stan.

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Saturday April 21, 2012... 3:15 p.m.
I leave Azaelia's performance early, hoping to catch a glimpse of Gambino and get to the main stage right in time for "You See Me."

Saturday April 21, 2012... 3:40 p.m.
I head out with Ray and company to hit up this SPIN and Beats by Dre Pool Party, but first we get some food.

Saturday April 21, 2012... 5:06 p.m.
We arrive at the SPIN/Beats Pool Party and meet some of the Beats staff. Nice folks.

Saturday April 21, 2012... 6:00 p.m.
We leave, stop by the Fuse House to scope it out and then to briefly hit up Ray's hotel before heading back to Coachella. Cash Out's "Cashin Out," 2 Chainz's "Riot," ScHoolboy Q's "Hands on the Wheel" and Future's "You Deserve It" are on repeat in the car.

Saturday April 21, 2012... 10:37 p.m.
I bump into Childish Gambino. We briefly speak and he thanks XXL for the love the magazine has been showing him. He promises to stop by the XXL offices soon.

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Saturday April 21, 2012... 11:01 p.m.
We head to the Gobi Stage early to get good placement for A$AP Rocky and spot Earl Sweatshirt and Mike G of Odd Future. They quickly disappear.

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Saturday April 21, 2012... 11:35 p.m.
Rocky and the A$AP Mob take the stage. He performs crowd favorites like "Pretty Flacko," "Purple Swag" and "Peso" and brings out Master P, who performs "Make 'Em Say Uhh!" and "I Miss My Homies." Lil Romeo is in tow.

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Saturday April 21, 2012... 12:18 a.m.
Earl is back and he's rapping along to Rocky's rhymes.

Rocky does a good job. There isn't much going on after hours, so we call it a day.

TO READ MORE DAY THREE OF COACHELLA, GO TO THE NEXT PAGE

Day Three was pretty simple. The plan was to take it easy for most of the day, head out to see The Weeknd, link up with Scoop Deville and then watch the Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre set.

Sunday April 22, 2012... 6:29 p.m.
On my way to head to the outdoor stage, I spot Alexandra Govere of The Real World: San Diego.

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Sunday April 22, 2012... 6:55 p.m.
The Weeknd takes the stage and these kids are absolutely loving him.

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Sunday April 22, 2012... 7:00 p.m.
The entire crowd is seemingly singing along to The Weeknd, but this particular group is inexplicably chanting, "Superman that hoe."

Sunday April 22, 2012... 7:10 p.m.
The A$AP Mob shows up to watch The Weeknd. Rocky takes the time to take a few flicks with fans.

Sunday April 22, 2012... 7:16 p.m.
Some girl faints and is escorted out by security.

Sunday April 22, 2012... 7:24 p.m.
This dude standing next to me answers his phone and initially speaks loud as if trying to stunt. "There's a post from Kim," he says. "'Ye wants to retweet that." Dude realizes that he's doing too much so he walks away to finish the conversation. I would later tell YN what I heard dude say. We check 'Ye's timeline and he's retweeted Kim K. 's "money tall like Jordan tweet." Ha!

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Sunday April 22, 2012... 8:28 p.m.
After The Weeknd, I meet up with Ray and we go watch Company Flow at the Gobi stage. Though the crowd is a bit smaller, it's clearly comprised of die-hards. They're not disappointed as Co Flow does classics like "The Fire In Which You Burn Slow" and "8 Steps to Perfection." Byze One and Scoop Deville meet up with me during the set. I catch up with Mr. Len afterwards and reminisce on his run doing Lunchtime With Mr. Len on XXLMag.com.

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Sunday April 22, 2012... 9:40 p.m.
I sit down for an interview with Scoop Deville.

Sunday April 22, 2012... 9:54 p.m.
We bump into Battlecat, who praises Scoop for his recent work.

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Sunday April 22, 2012... 10:30 p.m.
Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre take the stage. The performance is incredible. They go through all the classics like "Nuthin But a G Thang," "Deep Cover" and "Gin and Juice," to name a few, and pay tribute to Nate Dogg with a rendition of "Ain't No Fun." The crowd sings Nate's entire part verbatim. This was beyond stadium status. It was incredible to see so many folks gathered to see Snoop and Dre celebrate their 20 years in the game together. The photo below is a testament to how far I was from the stage, but I was still able to connect with the Cali duo.

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I was, however, close enough to see what kind of untypical fans Snoop and Dre attract.

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Seeing the 'Pac hologram was a little creepy as expected. 50 did a good job, but I didn't see Eminem because we had to head out a bit early to catch our flight. Coachella is nowhere near as hip-hop-centric as South By Southwest has become, but it's a must for all music lovers. I hope to be back next year. Oh, and I saw Wiz Khalifa and Amber Rose at the Los Angeles airport around 5 a.m. Ha!

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