From Miami To Thailand: The History Of Rolling Loud And Its Arrival In Asia
Billboard Philippines traces back the first 10 years of Rolling Loud – the largest hip-hop festival in the world, from its beginnings in Miami to its expansion to Europe, Asia, and beyond.

Rolling Loud Thailand 2024: photographed by Mayks Go/Billboard Philippines
“Hey, why don’t we take this party thing and make it into an actual business?”
Like all great things, Rolling Loud started with a small yet crazy idea. Specifically, between two best friends, Tariq Cherif and Matt Zingler.
But before it came to achieve its present day fame as the annual hip-hop convergence to be at, Rolling Loud’s origins find their roots from an inherent desire to entertain and a keen observation from Cherif and Zingler: the lack of a major hip-hop-centric event, specifically in their home city of Miami, Florida.

Photographed by Mayks Go
Even way before Rolling Loud was even a thing, Cherif and Zingler were undeniably ahead of the curve since the beginning, possessing the innate abilities to identify, showcase, and cultivate burgeoning talent before they eventually blew up big time. With this, the two best friends were able to discover and uplift young and up-and-coming artists and gave them the proper stages they deserved to be on. Soon, many of these acts would go on to become the global hip-hop phenomena they are today, including the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert, XXXTentacion, and more.
This, at the time, unmet desire for a more organized, well-curated major event in their city that specifically catered to the hip-hop genre and its many niches was the seed – the small idea they planted. And ten years later, it continues to flourish, becoming the most sought after show for any hip-hop head, with its reputation and prestige rivaling even the other festivals that came before it.
Ever since its inception in 2015, Rolling Loud has grown from being just another major annual music event to a global cultural phenomenon in its own right. Undeniably, this has completely shaped it into what it has become known today: the largest hip-hop festival in the entire world.

Photographed by Mayks Go
Parties, Parties, and More Parties
In order to understand how Rolling Loud came to be, we have to go back further in time. Specifically, back to when Matt Zingler and Tariq Cherif first met and where their love for hip-hop came from.
According to Tariq, his love for hip-hop stems from its nature of being an “expressionist” genre, wherein it can be something one can listen to “when you want to have a good time” or when you want to think deeply about a certain topic.” For Cherif, it became a choice genre in terms of self-expression. “I think what really made me want to work in it was that it seemed like the one genre that you didn’t have to be trained in knowing how to play an instrument,” he states to Billboard Philippines when asked what made him realize he wanted to work within the genre, noting its “punk-rock, do-it-yourself [vibe].” “You didn’t have to be in the industry to break into it and find your way in it.”

Photographed by Mayks Go
On the other hand, Zingler notes how his love for the fashion side of hip-hop drew him to the genre, particularly “what certain artists were wearing and the influence it had on culture” when he was younger, such as the likes of Eminem, 50 Cent, and Nelly. “Hip hop’s changed and adjusted so much over the past 20, 25 years from that point but I think a strong thing for me that I liked was just overall, the aesthetic,” he shares, noting how the likes of “the album covers to the music videos and choreography of that time” made him gravitate towards the genre.
Ultimately, this excited Zingler more than any other genre of music and as Cherif himself succinctly described it, “It’s a party.”
And speaking of parties, they sure knew how to throw one.
Photographed by Mayks Go
Meeting all the way back in 4th grade, the duo remained the closest of friends well into their teenage years, with Cherif noting how, way before Rolling Loud was even an idea, the two of them “always loved to entertain.” In particular, he recalls when Zingler threw a huge birthday party back in early middle school wherein the music consisted of rap songs, sharing how Zingler used to make CDs containing some of “the best rap songs.”
After that, the duo would continue to join forces and organize even more parties left and right over the years, particularly at Cherif’s grandmother’s house or their friends’ homes.
This continued well into their college years before the duo, who had always teamed up together on other business ventures, had a mutual epiphany of taking their party-throwing efforts to the next level.

Photographed by Mayks Go
The Origins Of Rolling Loud (2010 – 2015)
From here, what one might consider the early blueprints for Rolling Loud were officially laid out.
In 2010, Cherif and Zingler began evolving their regular parties into full-blown shows throughout the state of Florida, curating one-night-only events and short tours that featured the likes of Rick Ross and then-rising star Kendrick Lamar.
According to Cherif, these “smaller concerts” usually consisted of anywhere around 100 to about 1000 people, with a couple even drawing in as far as 2000 show-goers, the likes of Denzel Curry and Travis Scott taking these stages. Eventually, these gigs also became the way to address the lack of many touring artists often skipping out on Florida, particularly Miami, at that time.
A lot of these pre-Rolling Loud gigs consisted of a lot of trial and error for Zingler and Cherif, helping them further learn the business and financial side of things and slowly finding the pulse of the people going to their shows, helping turn these individuals from being mere attendees into a growing cult fanbase. In addition, it was also during this time that two began helping promote artists in Florida’s SoundCloud rap niche under their Dope Entertainment label.

Photographed by Mayks Go
In 2013, Rock The Bells – a multi-city rap-centric festival launched in 2004 in Southern California, spanning until Europe – was dissolved. Effectively, it created a rather big void to fill for a major event production that focused exclusively on hip-hop. Cherif and Zingler were aware of this void, noting in particular how other genres had many festivals dedicated to them and, specifically, how there were no large-scale hip-hop-focused events where they lived.
“That’s why our festival was created in Miami,” shares Cherif, noting how its location made it “out of the way for touring” for many acts. “A lot of artists, when they tour – granted, it’s become more of a touring market for arenas and stadiums, but when we were growing up and when we were in college, [they] would skip Florida a lot of the time,” he explains, stating that this was the driving force behind them booking shows.
With this evident need, combined with perfect timing at the cusp of an eventual mid-2010’s hip-hop boom thanks to a number of rising stars, the duo sought to launch their biggest party yet in the form of the first ever Rolling Loud.
Photographed by Mayks Go
Beginnings In Miami (2015 – 2016)
Five years after transitioning into staging smaller concerts, Zingler and Cherif launched Rolling Loud in Miami in February 2015. Headlined by Schoolboy Q, Juicy J, and A$AP Ferg, the duo’s new venture managed to pull a 6,500-strong crowd, with tickets at USD 50.
Despite woes of the venue being temporarily flooded due to rain during the show, the first Rolling Loud was a success, with the lineup of more than 100 artists also consisting of Travis Scott, Action Bronson, and Curren$y, spread across four stages.
The following year, Rolling Loud returned bigger and better, moving to the Mana Wynwood Production Village for its 2016 iteration. It featured an even more stacked lineup, with Future and Young Thug headlining, sharing the stage with the likes of 2 Chainz, Ty Dolla $ign, Lil Uzi Vert, Kodak Black, Playboi Carti, 21 Savage, and more.
Photographed by Mayks Go
Expansion In The United States And Australia (2017 – 2019)
After a successful first two years in Miami, Cherif and Zingler now set their sights on going beyond the confines of Florida for the first time.
Alongside the 2017 iteration of the event in Miami (which moved to the even bigger Bayfront Park), the duo launched the festival’s first California editions: Rolling Loud Bay Area – headlined by Travis Scott, Lil Wayne, and Schoolboy Q – and Rolling Loud Southern California – top-billed by Schoolboy Q and Future.
Alongside these two new shows, that year’s Miami iteration was headlined by Future, Lil Wayne, and Kendrick Lamar. Notably, Lamar headlined the event only a month after releasing his critically acclaimed album DAMN. and less than year before he won Best Rap Album at the 2018 GRAMMY Awards and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for it.
Photographed by Mayks Go
In 2018, Rolling Loud Miami would move to its current home at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, with its edition that year featuring headliners J.Cole, Travis Scott, and Future. This year, Rolling Loud in California held shows in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. These shows had a lot of first-time headliners, including Cardi B being the first ever female rapper to top-bill the festival.
“I would say, when we first started, it was just like, ‘Hey, let’s just do the biggest show that we’ve done to date.’ And then, I think once seeing that, we’re like, ‘Okay, well, that works so let’s get more people,’ comments Zingler when asked if in the beginning they ever thought of Rolling Loud going beyond Miami. “And [it became] how do we get more people here and more people here, and then eventually, we were expanding it to LA.”

Photographed by Mayks Go
Eventually, the next year saw them going even further. Alongside the Miami and the two California editions, 2019 was the year Rolling Loud was also launched in New York. Held at Citi Field, it featured a stacked lineup consisting of the likes of Travis Scott, Meek Mill, Wu-Tang Clan, A$AP Rocky, and Lil Uzi Vert.
In addition, Rolling Loud marked a major milestone by making its first overseas debut in Australia. The event was held at the Sydney Olympic Park and featured a lineup including a headlining Future, as well as YG, Rae Sremmurd (Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi), Tyga, Playboi Carti, the Kid LAROI, and more. As of January 2025, this remains the only Australian iteration of the festival.

Photographed by Mayks Go
The Pandemic Era (2020)
2020 was the year Rolling Loud was initially set to host its first European edition in Portugal, headlined by A$AP Rocky, Future, and Wiz Khalifa at Praia da Rocha in Portimão. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was cancelled. In addition, that year’s Miami edition – with headliners A$AP Rocky, Travis Scott, and Post Malone – was rescheduled to 2021.
However, despite these setbacks, Cherif and Zingler pushed on, leading to the creation of Loud Stream – a partnership between Rolling Loud and Twitch to produce a series of streamed live performances from a secret location (for fans’ safety purposes) in Miami. It featured the likes of Ski Mask the Slump God, Swae Lee, NLE Choppa, and more.
Photographed by Mayks Go
The Comeback And (Finally) Heading To Europe (2021 – 2022)
In 2021, Rolling Loud would make its triumphant return. Not wanting to waste its stellar 2020 lineup, Rolling Loud Miami saw its three-day course headlined by A$AP Rocky, Travis Scott, and Post Malone, sharing the stage with many, if not all, of the artists from the 2020 lineup. In addition, the New York and California editions also made a return, with the latter being turned into a singular edition for the first time, headlined by J. Cole, Kid Cudi, and Future at the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino.
Meanwhile, 2022 saw Rolling Loud’s return to expansion with its first Portugal edition finally taking place and headlined by J. Cole, A$AP Rocky, Future. The festival also added another North American show in the form of Rolling Loud in Toronto, headlined by Future, Dave, and Wizkid. Alongside these shows, Rolling Loud New York also took place, with Nicki Minaj notably headlining the festival for the first time ever.
Photographed by Mayks Go
2022 was also the year where Rolling Loud established its first partnership with a festival in Europe, joining forces with WOO HAH! – an annual hip-hop festival in the Netherlands. In November of the same year, WOO HAH! would announce its continuation under the Rolling Loud name.
In addition, its Miami iteration that year was initially supposed to see Kanye West headline the festival for the first time before the famed rapper announced the cancellation of his appearance just days before the festival was set to happen. He was replaced by Kid Cudi who headlined alongside Future and Kendrick Lamar. West, however, still made a surprise appearance at the festival, serving as a special guest during Lil Durk’s set.
Arrival In Asia and Worldwide Domination (2023)
Taking things even higher, 2023 became Rolling Loud’s biggest year yet.
It was this year that Rolling Loud’s California edition moved to its current home at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, headlined by Playboi Carti, Travis Scott, and Future. Meanwhile, the Portugal edition celebrated its second year with Scott, Carti, and Meek Mill headlining. In addition, the Miami edition was top-billed by Carti, Scott, and A$AP Rocky. Notably, Scott’s headlining stint during the Miami event preceded the release of his critically divisive yet fan-favorite GRAMMY-nominated record Utopia, which came out a few days later.

Photographed by Mayks Go
Undoubtedly, 2023 was the year Rolling Loud further cemented its status as the largest hip-hop festival in the world by holding 6 editions across the United States, Europe, and, for the first time ever, Asia.
Following a fruitful partnership in 2022 with WOO HAH!, Rolling Loud launched its first event in the Netherlands at the Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, headlined by Kendrick Lamar and Travis Scott. Meanwhile, the festival’s first iteration in Germany was also launched, held at the Neue Messe München in Munich, top-billed by Wizkid, Kendrick Lamar and Travis Scott.

Photographed by Mayks Go
Rolling Loud Thailand (2023 – 2024)
Alongside these two inaugural events, Rolling Loud also expanded its reach and influence to Thailand, marking its debut in Asia.
When talking about how this edition of the festival became the gateway for so many big artists to go to this part of Asia for the first time ever, Cherif details the similarities between the region and their home of Miami in terms of their stature in the regular touring circuit. He notes how he and Zingler resonate with the fact that the Southeast Asian region can be overlooked at times, similar to how it used to be in Miami.
Ultimately, what made the event possible in Thailand was Cherif and Zingler joining forces with a team that consisted of the likes of DJ ONO, DJ Buddah, and more – hip-hop fans themselves who have nothing but absolute love for the genre. Wanting to help further cultivate hip-hop’s culture in the country, this team approached the Rolling Loud founders, ultimately leading to the event’s inaugural edition in 2023.

Photographed by Mayks Go
Held at Legend Siam in the city of Pattaya during the scorching hot month of April, the first ever Rolling Loud Thailand was a smashing success in the region. Headlined by Cardi B, Travis Scott, as well as Chris Brown in his first time ever top-billing the festival, the event was flocked by people from all over Thailand and the rest of the region, as well as Rolling Loud devotees from other parts of the globe.
Following this, the festival returned for its second year in a row in 2024 at the same location, held this time during the significantly less humid month of November. The event was top-billed by A$AP Rocky, and Lil Wayne, as well as Yeat, who stepped in at the last minute when initial headliner Playboi Carti suddenly announced the cancellation of his appearance on the same day as his performance.
Photographed by Mayks Go
“I think it opened a lot of doors for other people to realize that it’s possible to do a festival of this magnitude,” states Zingler when asked what sort of impact they feel that they are making in Southeast Asia after staging Rolling Loud Thailand twice already. “It’s opened the ability for us to potentially expand the brand to multiple locations in Asia, engaged a lot of interest in talent in the region — China, Japan and Korea, etcetera.”
Zingler also notes how, compared to the festival’s iterations in Europe, Rolling Loud Thailand has become a “destination festival,” drawing in people from all over. “I think that this festival is really just a melting pot of just anybody in the region that is close enough to catch a flight, that really enjoys hip-hop, to come and be able to enjoy themselves.”
Photographed by Mayks Go
10 Years of Rolling Loud (2024)
What made 2024 extra special for Rolling Loud was the fact that it was also the year it was celebrating 10 years since its inception in 2015.
Alongside Rolling Loud Thailand’s second year, the festival also returned to California, featuring headlining acts ¥$ (Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign), Nicki Minaj, Post Malone, and Future & Metro Boomin. In addition, the festival once again expanded its influence in Europe by staging its first ever show in Austria at the Magna Racino, with Nicki Minaj, Travis Scott, and Playboi Carti top-billing.
Finally, of course, Rolling Loud Miami capped off the year, drawing hundreds of thousands of fans back to where it all began 10 years ago. The three-day grand celebration featured an all-star lineup headlined by Rolling Loud juggernauts Future, Travis Scott, and Playboi Carti.

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What’s Next? (2025 – Present)
As the dust settled on its 10th year of existence, fame, and success, Tariq Cherif and Matt Zingler made it clear that the first 10 years of Rolling Loud were just the beginning. In fact, their 11th year is already primed and ready to kick off with Rolling Loud California in March, with Playboi Carti, A$AP Rocky, Peso Pluma set to headline.
Looking further ahead, however, for Cherif, while it is not something in the cards right now, he personally looks forward to someday expanding the festival in Africa. In addition, he expresses their hopes of cultivating an even stronger presence throughout the rest of Asia, particularly the Middle East, as well as, the rest of Europe and, someday, South America.

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In addition to producing more iterations of the festival across the globe, Zingler notes that they are looking to expand the Rolling Loud brand beyond concerts and festivals. In particular, he notes their continued desire to platform artists and create meaningful and collaborative connections between them, especially from region to region.
“It was very tough to kind of get to this point in our career,” Zingler notes, expressing how “very fortunate that [they’re] here now” thanks, in huge part, to “the artists and the music,” as well as how impactful and far-reaching the genre of hip-hop has come to be in the last decade or so. “The first 10 years have been amazing for the company and building the brand, but the next 10 years will be just as exciting, if not more exciting, for the brand and the fans.”
Photographed by Mayks Go