Photo by Josh Sobel for Rolling Loud
Audio By Carbonatix
Earlier this morning, the popular hip‑hop festival sent shockwaves through the music community with a social media announcement: presales for Rolling Loud 2026 begin this Friday at 10 a.m. ET — and for the first time since its birth, the Florida event won’t be in Miami. Instead, the 2026 edition is slated for May 8–10 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, with organizers promising a full week of “exclusive events and experiences” leading up to the main shows. Details on the lineup are still under wraps, but anticipation is, as usual, high.
Rolling Loud’s roots trace back to Miami in 2015, when childhood friends Matt Zingler and Tariq Cherif — both Florida natives — set out to build a festival centered on hip‑hop culture. Long before the massive stages and global tours, the duo cut their teeth organizing parties and local showcases around South Florida, spotlighting rising talent and tapping into the burgeoning SoundCloud rap scenes of the early 2010s.
The very first Rolling Loud was a one‑day gathering at Soho Studios in Wynwood, featuring a slate of emerging names and weathering a sudden downpour that flooded parts of the venue. That beginning quickly gave way to rapid growth: a move to the indoor part of Mana Wynwood in 2016, then Bayfront Park in 2017, and eventually Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens by 2018. Along the way, Rolling Loud became both an international brand and a proving ground for hip‑hop’s biggest breakout stars.
Photo by Alex Markow
By 2019, the festival regularly drew crowds in excess of 200,000 attendees in Miami alone, cementing its status as one of the city’s premier cultural events and a major economic driver for the local music and nightlife ecosystem.
Beyond Miami, the brand expanded nationally and internationally, launching festivals in California, the Bay Area, and abroad, bringing its mix of established icons and new voices to fans worldwide. The event has hosted countless memorable moments — including what would become XXXTentacion’s final performance at Rolling Loud 2018 — and played a role in the careers of artists who went on to global superstardom.
In a 2024 interview with Miami New Times, co‑founder Cherif reflected on the shared rise of the festival and hip‑hop itself: “As we kept growing, the genre grew,” he said. “That’s the crazy thing, hip‑hop wasn’t the biggest genre in the world when we launched, and as we grew, it became the biggest.”
For many in South Florida, Rolling Loud’s announcement feels bittersweet, with fans voicing their opinions in the comments section of the previously mentioned Instagram post. The festival has become an integral part of Miami’s culture over the past decade. Its move to Orlando — following reports that Zingler listed his waterfront Miami mansion last fall — signals a new chapter for the brand.
