For the past five years we have seen thousands of hip-hop enthusiasts trek to the Miami Dolphins’ 40,000-seater Hard Rock Stadium for what has become one of the fastest growing music festivals, Rolling Loud. Since its debut in 2015, the festival has provided a platform showcasing big name artists like Kendrick Lamar, Migos and Travis Scott, but also emerging hip-hop talent like Queen Key, Blueface and Saint Jhn.
Florida natives and co-founders Matt Zingler and Tariq Cherif went from throwing high school parties sound tracked by the Ying Yang Twins and Nelly to orchestrating one of the biggest rap-only festivals in the country. They have seen tremendous growth, and with the vision of turning Rolling Loud into a worldwide brand, don’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
Already, Rolling Loud has expanded to the west coast, putting on successful events in northern and southern California in the last two years. Most recently, the festival announced via its twitter account that its next stop would be New York City.
The announcement, however, was met with mixed reviews. Just the weekend prior, Rolling Loud Miami saw everything from artist cancellations due to heightened security, to two stampede causing gun scares. These incidents left festival goers questioning the logistics of the festival, and with little faith that it could work in the Big Apple. On the other hand, many attendees are very hopeful that Rolling Loud New York would do a great job at highlighting the city’s historical hip-hop culture. As we await more details and a line-up, Rolling Loud’s cult following will definitely be tuned in.
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