Rolling Loud's Tariq Cherif Reflects on Festival's Past Ten Years

It's the Wednesday of Miami Art Week, and inside the Museum of Graffiti in Wynwood, Tariq Cherif is taking a rare opportunity to relax. He's busy this week doing interviews, panels, and anything else where he can promote and talk about Rolling Loud, the world's biggest hip-hop festival.

Since its inception in 2015, it has grown from a one-day event at Soho Studios in Wynwood into a global brand that has a reach far beyond South Florida.

This year's lineup features the usual heavy hitters who have helped make the festival a success. Travis Scott, Future, and Playboi Carti have all become household names, and Rolling Loud has helped boost their careers.

"As we kept growing, the genre grew," Cherif shares. "That's the crazy thing is hip-hop was not the biggest genre in the world when we launched, but it became the biggest genre in the world as we grew. So it's like we grew together."

Hip-Hop Boom

Before Rolling Loud, acts like Future and Carti hardly appeared atop the Billboard Hot 100, much less command throngs of adoring fans large enough to fill up the field in front of a festival's main stage. By championing emerging talents, such as XXXTentacion, Ski Mask the Slump God, Smokepurpp, Lil Pump, Denzel Curry, Kodak Black, and more, the festival capitalized on the SoundCloud boom of the late 2010s.

"At the time, we just knew that these artists are important. We were growing together in the state of Florida, and we saw as we were growing on the internet, they were growing on the internet," Cherif says. "As Rolling Loud was getting bigger, they were getting bigger. And also, we were just organically, just friends. Like, I consider XXXTentacion, may he rest in peace, he was one of my good friends. We talked a lot, the whole scene. Pouya is my friend. Denzel Curry is my friend. Rob Banks is one of my best friends. We all came up together."

Of course, Rolling Loud's rise wasn't without its challenges. Cherif and cofounder Matt Zingler had a hard time getting people to believe in the festival.

"At first, the challenge was to get people to see the vision. We never used to get sponsors; it took us years to get any sponsorship dollars," Cherif says. "It was very niche, you know? I'd be telling friends of mine, trying to promote the show. And if you weren't like a hardcore SoundCloud rap fan in 2015, 2016, you didn't care about us. So I would be telling people, 'Hey, I'm doing this festival. It's a hip-hop festival.' And they're like, 'A hip-hop festival? I'm going Ultra. What the fuck do I want to go to a hip-hop festival for? I go to EDM festivals.' And I would just be like, Damn. One day, hopefully, one day they'll catch up."

Eventually, everyone did, helping the brand grow not only in the U.S. but also in Europe and Asia, securing big-brand sponsors like Amazon Music, Ksubi, and GoPuff along the way. The festival, which started in a murky warehouse in Wynwood — very punk rock, according to Cherif — now attracts thousands of festivalgoers across three continents.

Historic Performances

Over the years, Rolling Loud has seen many surprise guests and memorable moments, but Cherif doesn't hesitate when asked which one sticks out to him. "My favorite is XXXTentacion's final performance, slash when he reunited with Ski Mask on stage in 2018," he shares.

Perhaps that's why XXXTentacion's likeness is currently part of a mural outside of the Art of Hip Hop Museum in Wynwood, alongside Future, Scott, and Carti. Their heads are depicted carved on the side of a mountain, much like Mount Rushmore, but instead of dead presidents, they are some of the most important figures in contemporary hip-hop.

"When we first went to Portugal, we had Central C when he was just really starting to buzz," Cherif says, proof that the festival has its pulse on who's on the verge of breaking through. "He performed this sunset set. The show was on the beach, looking out at the crowd, the ocean, and the sunset, and him performing. It was just like a movie."

He also fondly recalls Kanye West's appearance during Future's set at Rolling Loud California in 2021 and the recent Rolling Loud Thailand. Even the challenging moments, such as the festival's controversial relocation to Bayfront Park in 2017, are some of Cherif's proudest moments. "When the City of Miami tried to shut us down in 2017, we threatened to sue the city for $30 million, and then we still got to do the show. We won that. That was fun," he adds.

Beyond Hip-Hop

In addition to the usual suspects this year, country singer Shaboozey and reggae act YG Marley are set to perform at Rolling Loud. While the decision can feel out of left field, it isn't the first time Rolling Loud has kept festivalgoers on their toes. In the past, the stages have hosted performances by dembow rapper El Alfa, punk band Turnstile, and corridos crooner Chino Pacas.

"I think hip-hop culture is bigger than hip-hop music. You see hip-hop culture affecting NBA players and NFL players, but it's also affecting other genres of music," Cherif explains. "With corridos, I view them as inspired by hip-hop; they're talking about the same stuff in hip-hop. They're talking about girls, selling drugs, independence, don't tread on me — that type of vibe, and that's big in hip-hop. We're also a DIY festival, and a lot of artists that have come up in recent times are like DIY artists, and that's like the spirit of punk rock. It's very punk rock to hop in the van and go hit as many cities as he can and do as many shows as you can. Hip-hop artists in modern times have been doing the same thing, and we did the same thing with our shows and later the festival."

Hip-hop's influence on Shaboozey and YG Marley's music is pretty evident. Never mind that Marley's mother, Lauryn Hill, is one of hip-hop's most iconic figures. Cherif adds that he wants the record to show that he considers Hill the greatest female rapper of all time.

The Festival's Future

With ten years under its belt and festivals outside of Miami, it can feel like Rolling Loud has hosted every hip-hop act imaginable. However, Cherif's list of dream bookings still includes Tyler, the Creator, Drake, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Jay Z, Eminem, and, of course, Lauryn Hill.

When asked what festivalgoers can expect from this year's headliners, Cherif remains tight-lipped, adding that you will have to pull up to the festival and find out. "I would say don't miss any of our headliner sets because it sounds like they're all going to be bringing out special guests," he teases. "Future's set looks like it's literally going to be on fire. You'll see during his set."

Last month, Playboi Carti promised to perform music from his highly anticipated third album, I Am Music, writing on Instagram, "I AM MUSIC WILL B PLAYED."

"I don't want to promise anybody what he's going to do or not do, but he said he's going do it. If he doesn't, talk to him about it, but he said he's going to play the album," Cherif says.

Even as Rolling Loud continues to grow globally, the Miami edition remains the focus of Cherif and his team. It's the OG, the one that helped increase hip-hop's visibility. "Rolling Loud Miami is our biggest show, numbers-wise," he says. "It's the one I care about the most. It's the one I'm most proud of."

Rolling Loud 2024. 3 p.m. to midnight Friday, December 13; and 1 p.m. to midnight Saturday, December 14, and Sunday, December 15; at Hard Rock Stadium, 347 Don Shula Dr., Miami Gardens; rollingloud.com. Tickets cost $169 to $969 via rollingloud.frontgatetickets.com.