Since its emergence in 2015, Rolling Loud has creeped its way into every hip-hop fan’s bucket list.
This summer has seen organisers Matt Zingler and Tariq Cherif expand the festival across the globe to Toronto, further marking its debut in Europe with Rolling Loud Portugal. All in the meanwhile, equal anticipation bubbles for the return to its original home in Miami, taking over the Hard Rock Stadium.
Previous years have welcomed around 210,000 attendees, all spread across heavyweight stages that pride the likes of Young Thug, Kendrick Lamar and Post Malone as their headliners. This year’s Miami stint has bounced back in full-swing with surprise appearances, new material and collaborations. Setting pace across social media in its unravelling, whether it’s a stage walk-off from Kid Cudi, ironically replacing Kanye West’s slot, or an unexpected stop-off from Travis Scott, CLASH caught all of the action first-hand.
Tag-Team presenters Sophie Beeching and DontBeMike make their way backstage to catch up with US rap risers, featuring interviews with Mozzy, Strick, Cash Cobain and more.
Dividing hip-hop commentator Akademiks is quick to share his praises for the festival’s home. “I love Miami, I think Miami is where everybody is going to. LA is dead, New York is trash, what other place is there to be? Miami is where it’s all at and I’m happy to be here.”
It’s a line-up that has consistently branched out, ensuring to platform both established names and newcomers. For LA rapper JELEEL!, Rolling Loud Miami serves as an ambitious first festival performance. “The set was amazing, I got tired a little bit, jumping around, but other than that I was with my people, my fans, I loved it. It was raw.”
Speaking to self-proclaimed ‘Big Ragerboy’ Tyla Yaweh, the punk-rap icon reminisces on the early stages of his career.
“Every time I look at myself in the mirror, it’s me, the 8 year-old rockstar kid that was looking at Green Day, trying to play the music in my bed and listening to their CD’s. Now I’m friends with Billie Joe Armstrong, that’s my dog.”
He continues “you’ve got to love what you do. You’ve got to eat, sleep, cry, bleed it every single day – you can’t give up.”
Fresh off of the stage and having just thrown his pair of $3000 shoes mid-way through his performance, New York rapper Toosii details similar sentiments of motivation:
“Life is like a pyramid, you build it up brick by brick and if you take away the foundation at the bottom, there’s nothing there. I built this from the ground up…”
Igniting crowds across the July weekend, head over to the CLASH YouTube channel for more exclusive content from Rolling Loud Miami.
Tune in now…
