A D.C.-based events collective known for sold-out nightlife parties took its biggest swing yet this past weekend, staging a two-day music festival at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf, Maryland, that pushed through a soaking nor'easter to put rapper Yung Miami on stage in front of a few hundred fans singing along in the rain.
The festival, branded Camp SOD, marked Souled Out Dates' first attempt at a multi-day event after years of throwing parties, according to WJLA. The lineup featured local and national talent including G Herbo and Yung Miami, with headliners like PARTYNEXTDOOR topping the bill, the outlet reported. Co-founder Keith Haynie said the goal was to give DMV fans, as the station put it, a capstone moment and something to celebrate.
From Late-Night Parties to a Festival Stage
Souled Out Dates was founded by Keith Haynie and Fahn Darkor, according to Rolling Out. The collective's origin story traces back to a Drake-themed party called “10PM in DC” at Capo Deli, where, as Haynie recalled to the outlet, “We had about 150 to 200 people in the room with a line that wrapped around a corner.” From there, the operation expanded well beyond a single night out — the founders told Rolling Out, “We ended up going to every single city that was on that original tour.”
Accounts differ on exactly when the collective got its start. Souled Out Dates' own website states its inception dates to May 2022, while an organizer profile on posh.vip describes the group throwing its first Washington, D.C., party in October 2023. Whatever the exact starting point, the company says on its site that it has attracted more than 120,000 ticketed attendees across U.S. markets, while the posh.vip profile puts the figure at nearly 250,000 attendees and more than $5.6 million in ticket sales in under three years. Washington, D.C., remains the operation's anchor market, per that same profile.
A Two-Day Bet in Waldorf
Camp SOD represented the collective's first multi-day festival, staged on its own festival grounds in Waldorf, according to the posh.vip organizer spotlight. Reporting from the Southern Maryland Chronicle ahead of the event described a lineup spread across two nights: PARTYNEXTDOOR, G Herbo, Cash Cobain and Allyn on the first night, with Don Toliver, DaBaby, Yung Miami and additional acts performing the second. Organizers told the local licensing board they expected a combined 5,000 attendees across both days, and security plans called for roughly 27 private security personnel alongside 12 off-duty Charles County Sheriff's Office deputies, the Chronicle reported.
Notably, the festival's exact year has been reported two different ways. The Southern Maryland Chronicle's pre-event coverage placed Camp SOD on Friday, Sept. 26, and Saturday, Sept. 27, 2026, while Souled Out Dates' own website lists the Regency Furniture Stadium dates as Sept. 26-27, 2027. WJLA's coverage of the weekend's performances describes the festival concluding on Sunday, September 27.
Ticket sales were also described differently across sources. WJLA reported that Souled Out Dates did not share official ticket sale numbers with the station, while the posh.vip organizer profile stated that more than 3,100 tickets had already been sold. Proceeds from the festival were intended to fund a music-scholarship endowment benefiting the College of Southern Maryland's music program, with an eventual goal of supplying instruments to Charles County Public Schools, according to the Chronicle.
Singing Through the Storm
Weather nearly stole the show. A powerful nor'easter brought heavy rain to the DMV area over the weekend, and Camp SOD faced real challenges as a result, per WJLA's reporting. Despite the downpour, the outlet described a few hundred fans singing along with Yung Miami in the rain — a scene organizers framed as a testament to the crowd's commitment rather than a setback.
The storm's reach extended well beyond Waldorf. As reported by The Washington Post, the same nor'easter — bringing heavy rain, strong winds and high surf to the East Coast — prompted organizers of the Oceans Calling festival to cancel opening-day performances that included the Dave Matthews Band, Mumford and Sons, and Twenty One Pilots. The Post noted the disruption came amid a wave of extreme weather that has affected outdoor stages throughout the summer.
Souled Out Dates' team struck an upbeat tone despite the conditions, saying the rain tried to dampen the weekend but that the team was proud of the turnout and appreciated the audience's support, according to WJLA. Haynie, addressing the logistical strain of booking major acts, told the station that each artist has different needs and that the festival involved many moving pieces — one of the biggest challenges, he said, was simply meeting those varied demands.
Yung Miami's Moment on the DMV Stage
For Yung Miami — also known as Caresha Brownlee, who started her career with the City Girls before launching a solo career — the Waldorf stop carried personal weight. She told WJLA she enjoys performing in Washington, D.C., because of the city's energy and its people. Brownlee has landed the hit song “Spend Dat” as part of her solo run, and she said having a hit after people doubted her felt good and affirmed her belief in her own path, per the station's reporting.
Brownlee has been credited with contributing to a resurgence for women in hip-hop and women-empowering music anthems, WJLA reported, and she said she wants to motivate people who aspire to achieve their dreams by encouraging self-belief. It's a message that echoed the framing organizers gave the whole weekend: Haynie said Souled Out Dates wanted to bring together culture, community, fun and music in the DMV — a mission the collective has built through what the founders describe, per Rolling Out, as an increasingly crowded field where a new party group seems to emerge every week.
