The annual Rolling Loud Hip Hop Festival which is now the largest in the world, features performances by some of the most well-known names in hip hop.
Despite having its origins in Miami, Rolling Loud festivals can now be found all across the United States and even internationally, bringing with them their unique brand of modern rap to a wide audience.
The United States, Europe, Australia and Canada all have annual Rolling Loud hip hop music festivals. When it first started in 2015, it quickly became known as “the be-all of hip-hop festivals” by Billboard and “one of the biggest rap-only festivals in the world” by Complex and is predicted that around 210,000 people will show up to the Miami event this year.
What Is The History Of Rolling Loud In Miami
Matt Zingler and Tariq Cherif, who went to school together in early years in Hollywood, Florida, launched the festival in 2015 and after deciding to “lean heavily on a combination of Southern and Midwestern rap” at their parties, the two started throwing them in high school.
In 2010, they graduated to full-fledged concert productions, kickstarting with an aftershow with Rick Ross.
By the summer of 2013, they were holding monthly shows in Miami, Florida, with promising new musicians like Travis Scott and Kendrick Lamar. The two had been promoting artists under the Dope Entertainment label in Florida’s blossoming SoundCloud rap scene before they saw the need for a music event dedicated just to the genre.
Artists like Schoolboy Q, Juicy J, Currensy, and Action Bronson performed at the inaugural Rolling Loud in Miami, Florida in February 2015. Even though rain partially inundated Soho Studios in the city’s Wynwood neighborhood, the event went on as planned.
In 2016, the festival moved to the larger Mana Wynwood convention center and headliners included Ty Dolla $ign, Young Thug and Future.
Previously held in South Beach, Rolling Loud 2017 relocated to Bayfront Park in the heart of Miami. For the past few years, it has been held at Miami Gardens, Florida’s Hard Rock Stadium. Rolling Loud Bay Area and Rolling Loud Southern California both held their first festivals in 2017.
Rolling Loud expanded in 2019 to include both Sydney, Australia and New York City and in the same year, it was revealed that in July of 2020, Portugal would play host to the first European event for Rolling Loud.
Post-pandemic in Miami, Rolling Loud threw an event in 2021 that over 200,000 people showed out to. There was a WWE Friday Night Smackdown at the festival thanks to a partnership with the company.
Rolling Loud’s international expansion carried on in 2022. Rolling Loud’s first European festival collaboration was announced in 2021, with the July 1-3, 2022 Woo-Hah! festival.
Rolling Loud Portugal finally happened from July 6-8, 2022, after being postponed in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and on September 9-11, 2022, Toronto, Canada, hosted Rolling Loud and on March 3-5, 2023, SoFi Stadium in Inglewood will host the inaugural California edition of the event.
Broadcast Platforms Of Rolling Loud In Miami
In the year 2020, “Loud Streams,” or online live performances, were broadcast on Twitch. On September 12-13 and again on October 30/31, respectively, the first and second events took place. In 2021, the festival’s official YouTube channel played recordings of 2017 performances from the Miami and Bay Area festivals.
The festivities are broadcast online every year. Usually streamed simultaneously on YouTube and Twitch, however in 2017 Revolt, 2018 LiveXLive, and 2019 Be At TV aired it. During the 2022 edition of South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, Rolling Loud hosted a two-night showcase at Stubb’s Bar-B-Q.
Outside of only festival promotion, Rolling Loud also supports and promotes a number of concert tours.