As co-founders of Rolling Loud (@rollingloud) and Miami natives, Matt Zingler (@mattzingler) and Tariq Cherif (@tariqcherif) have seen the festival grow from a 5,000-capacity festival in Wynwood to a multi-day festival across Miami, Los Angeles, Netherlands and Portugal.

Rolling Loud co-founders and co-CEOs Matt Zingler and Tariq Cherif. PHOTO: BY SMITH DUROGENE/COURTESY OF ROLLING LOUD, LLC

Founded in 2015, Rolling Loud recently celebrated its eighth year complete with three separate community activations, a basketball clinic with the Miami HEAT, a skate park youth clinic at the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and a town hall held on the festival grounds with the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) to discuss free speech through the RAP Act.

Photo By: Raul Corona Cortez @slumpboyfilms

Believing community engagement is vital to the festival’s success, the entrepreneurs note their desire for the Miami festival to address the community’s local needs.

“Whether it’s supporting the Boys & Girls Club of Miami-Dade, investing in youth programs with the Miami HEAT, or partnering with local Congressmen and the Black Music Action Coalition to bring awareness to The RAP Act, our goal is to make a tangible difference and contribute positively to our community,” Cherif and Zingler share.

Continuing to grow every year, the founders share their hope to support and engage the youth within the Miami community.

“We plan on continuing them each year,” the founders note. “We see these activations as opportunities to engage with the local community, provide a safe and fun space for kids, and contribute to a cause that resonates with our festival’s spirit.”

Photo By: Raul Corona Cortez @slumpboyfilms

Partnering with the Miami HEAT and the skateboarding and apparel company DGK, the events not only brought community kids together while promoting creativity and providing a safe space for them to learn new skills.

“We believe that music, arts, and sports can all work together to inspire and empower young people, and the skate park event helped foster creativity and unity,” Cherif shares.

Photo By: Raul Corona Cortez @slumpboyfilms

Both founders resonated with different community highlights from the three community events. While Cherif, who is on the board of BMAC, found the town hall discussion extraordinary and hoped it would ignite change, Zingler shared that the skatepark event was his favorite for bringing children together.

With an incredibly diverse lineup of artists, genres and international acts, each year brings a new opportunity to create an experience for festival-goers.

“We’re continuing to step it up each year by creating unique immersive experiences for our attendees, including a tattoo parlor, Bunny’s Bae Bar, an art pop-up and more,” Zingler notes. “We’ve also continued to innovate with notable brands that target a young audience, including Forever21, Levi’s, Gopuff, Twitch, Sprite and more.”