NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) – Rolling Loud New York announced on Friday (March 17), that plans for this year’s festival to be held in the city that never sleeps (Citi Field), is going to hibernate for another year. The statement cited, “logistical factors” as the main reason for canceling. The traveling hip-hop festival is presented by Co-Founders Tariq Cherif and Matthew Zingler of Dope Entertainment.
“Sadly, due to logistical factors beyond our control, Rolling Loud will not return to New York in 2023. But don’t worry, this isn’t ‘goodbye,’ more like ‘see you later.’ We’ll be back in New York when the time is right. In the meantime, we invite all of our New York fans to meet us in Miami (July 21 – 23) for our biggest, best festival of the year. Love you all! Rolling Loud forever.”
Thank you Rolling Loud New York for everything last year. 💞💞. https://t.co/k7mLjMRlVz
— ♕ᴮᴷ (@BARBIEKIOR) March 17, 2023
Past performers at the Hip-hop festival include 50 Cent, Nicki Minaj, A$AP Rocky, and more. Rolling Loud is a premiere hip-hop event but has seen its share of controversy.
In its inaugural year (2019), the festival agreed to remove local drill rappers, Pop Smoke, Casanova, Sheff G, 22GZ, and Don Q from its lineup following a written request from the New York Police Department (NYPD).
“All the public sees is the letter,” Rolling Loud co-founder Tariq Cherif commented at the time, adding that the festival would pay the five rappers their full fees and planned to book them in the future. Way more happened behind closed doors. If we want RL to return to NYC, we have no choice but to comply. That’s the position we’re in.”
22Gz did perform in 2021 but Pop Smoke was murdered in a home invasion in Los Angeles in 2020. 22Gz was subsequently arrested in June 2022 for attempted murder ahead of another scheduled performance at the Hot 97 Summer Jam. The charges were eventually dropped.
A similar incident occurred in 2022 when again, at the request of the NYPD, Ron Suno, Sha Ek, and 22Gz were removed from the bill a day before they were set to take the stage. The NYPD request claimed there would be a “higher risk of violence” if they took the stage.
Rolling Loud has since expanded internationally with events scheduled to take place in Germany, Portugal, and Thailand.
