Miami was the first location for Rolling Loud in 2015 and remains the flagship site for rap’s preeminent festival — even as it has expanded into New York, California and across the globe. Festival founders Matt Zingler and Tariq Cherif are Floridians, and Rolling Loud built its buzz coinciding with the rise of rappers like Ski Mask the Slump God, Denzel Curry, and XXXtentacion.
As a contemporary rap festival, Rolling Loud has a tight roster of headline talents; major acts like Future, Playboi Carti and Travis Scott are seemingly always on call. Yet the most thrilling moments of the festival often come through the undercard — those artists on the ascent who take the stage in front of an eager young fanbase. Miami’s upcoming installment has no shortage of intriguing rising acts, ranging from critical darlings like TiaCorine and redveil, to viral stars like JELEEL! and 2rare.
From logistical difficulties to continued issues that led this year’s New York event to be canceled, Rolling Loud isn’t always the most smoothly run music festival, but it remains pretty much peerless in the world of marquee rap festivals.
The 2023 Miami edition takes place July 21 through 23 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. Tickets are $329 for a three-day pass to $1,049 for a VIP package, albeit with additional fees starting at $100.
KenTheMan
Houston rappers are rarely short on confidence, but even by the city’s standard of swaggering stars, KenTheMan stands out. Part of a long lineage of successful independent Southern rappers, Ken has carved out a successful corner rapping about her sexual prowess while flexing her tremendous technical talents atop bassy instrumentals.
Ken has performed at multiple Rolling Louds in the past, making meals out of occasionally unfavorable performance slots. But she’s such a slick performer that even a 15-minute window feels like a can’t-miss experience. Her best tracks like "Not My N***a" and "No Panties," involve Ken showing out atop minimalist beats, proof that she doesn’t need much to make a statement.
BigxthaPlug
One of this year’s biggest southern rap risers, BigXthaPlug transitioned from local stardom to internet darling status with March’s Amar. He’s a promising name in the Dallas rap scene, a kind of master technician in the vein of Houston’s Maxo Kream and Megan Thee Stallion. With a thunderous baritone, he burrows into tracks, whether they’re twangy thumpers like "Texas" or airy and effervescent like "Badu Flow."
He’s still pretty new to live performances, though a stint opening several shows for Key Glock’s latest run surely helped sharpen his skill set. He’s an artist whose appeal rests on more than pure charisma, so the bar on live performances is fairly high.
03 Greedo
Released from prison in January, 03 Greedo has been characteristically busy this year. The prolific L.A. polymath put out two strong records, including his first project of entirely new material in nearly five years.
Rolling Loud will follow a string of California shows that should see 03 fine-tune a set that pulls the best from a sprawling catalog. Greedo mixtapes are rarely shorter than an indie feature film, but a live show gives him the chance to pull together the best material and cement his well-deserved return to prominence.
Shordie Shordie
It’s all love for Shordie Shordie, one of the most prodigious talents in the burgeoning subgenre of romantic street rappers. The Baltimore vocalist first earned recognition as part of the group Pesa Da Mafia, and scored a viral hit with the wryly funny club cut "Bitchuary." He’s yet to match that single’s sterling commercial heights, but the quality of his albums remains high–2023’s A Life For Two even sees him explore Afrobeat-inflected syncopation to winning results on songs like "Remember Me Sober."
Smartly, his live shows emphasize the singular quality of his voice, with long moments for him to show off acapella. At times, Shordie Shordie can feel like hip-hop’s version of the "good bad singer," like Perry Farrell or Mark E. Smith. What his voice lacks in conventional clarity or heft, it more than makes up for with its addictive, hypnotic rasp and his terrific melody writing.
He’s a natural fit on a Friday bill that includes Toosii, lovelorn hustlers whose emotional music contrasts with much of the rest of the slate.
TiaCorine
It’s fitting that TiaCorine’s "Chaka Khan" has Fatman Scoop-esque background vocals, because she’s a world-of-her-own musician in the Missy Elliott sense. Rising to prominence first with 2018’s "Lotto" and last year’s "FreakyT," the North Carolina vocalist creates a distinct universe on each track: one moment, she’s in the chiptune soundtrack of an old video game, the next she’s doing a terrific homage to the Memphis days of yore.
Tia is a multi-time Rolling Loud veteran, with the poise and polish to craft a performance that feels truly spontaneous.
BktheRula
BktheRula’s latest album puts the Atlanta rhymer’s myriad of intriguing personalities on full display, but particularly Rue Santan. The 20-year-old Atlantan is always cool, but when she’s in the Rue Santan space she lords over the tracks, and her detractors, with a simultaneous sense of ease and unpredictability.
LVL5 P1 is filled with sharp bars delivered with laissez-faire ease. "You was doing hexes yesterday / How you a preacher now?" she raps on "??????" On "TAN" she’s breaking up a couple to take the girl to go see Spiderman. Translating that kind of preternatural swagger to a live show can be a bit of a tricky act, but BktheRula is the kind of rhymer who can pull it off and make it effortless.
redveil
The first album from DMV rapper-producer redveil was one of 2022’s best hip-hop debuts. He captured the uncertainty and thrill of the coming-of-age experience, while sprinkling in a few chest-pounding anthems like "pg baby" and "automatic." At just 19 years old, redveil's music combines a beyond-his-years maturity with youthful exuberance, and he’s already distinguished himself in a crowded field of young rap talent. His 2023 EP playing w/ fire is narratively light, but sonically lush, from the ebullient horns of opener "stuck" to the Kaytranada-style groover "f2g," meaning the songs should translate well to a live environment.
Artists like redveil always tend to stand out in the Rolling Loud lineups against the more typical Rap Caviar set, and redveil seems like an artist poised to win a lot of fans at the fest.
2Rare
A performer’s energy can overcome a lot, and 2Rare is one of the preeminent livewires on the Rolling Loud Miami roster. The pinball machine freneticism of Jersey and Philly Club music can sometimes overpower vocalists, but on tracks like "Q-Pid" and "Dump It Dummy," he proves he can stand in the limelight with sweet melodies and cheeky metaphors delivered with youthful glee.
Still green in the performance space, 2Rare rapped at Rolling Loud California, careening around the stage despite a lukewarm crowd. Miami seems like it could offer a more enthusiastic reception given the city’s own history with club-influenced hip-hop.
JELEEL!
Rap-centric festivals sometimes lack genuine excitement outside of the increasingly perfunctory "Headliner-X-brings-out-Headliner-Y" viral moments. But a JELEEL! (he has the most warranted exclamation point in an artist name since Panic! At the Disco) stage dive is as thrilling as they come. His shows have a genuine raucous unpredictability that has been missing from hip-hop festivals in recent years.
In the past, the songs have been secondary for JELEEL!, feeling more like a vehicle for his live shows than anything, but his debut LP Real Raw! features his hookiest records atop beats that sound like an arcade game being put through a woodchipper.
His 2022 Rolling Loud set came a little early in his career timeline, but his performance this year in California showed both the ways in which he’s grown as a performer and how his appeal has broadened. This Miami set figures to be a coordination.
Skilla Baby
Skilla Baby has been burbling just below the surface as Detroit’s rap scene became one of the hottest in the country, seemingly birthing new breakout talents overnight. Like his one-time mentor, Sada Baby, 24-year-old Skilla is a wildly inventive lyricist whose bars consistently surprise, whether he’s calling out an ex-attorney by name or comparing the sound of his artillery to K. Michelle.
Partnering with Detroit veteran Tee Grizzley on recent project Controversy was a particularly savvy move, allowing Skilla to focus on reeling off short memorable bursts of lyrics. It’ll be intriguing to see how much of that record is incorporated in his Rolling Loud set, vs. solo standouts like "Icky Vicky Vibes" and "Tay B Style."