The largest hip-hop festival in the world is coming back to New York City this fall.  The Rolling Loud Music Festival will be taking place at Citi Field from Sept. 23 to Sept. 25 and will feature many popular artists and rappers.  Musicians such as A$AP Rocky, Nicki Minaj, Future, and Playboi Carti are on the list for one of the biggest music events of the year. 

The Rolling Loud Music Festival began in 2015 as an annual festival held at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida. In 2017, they expanded their shows to include San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City.  In past years, the New York City festival has been held at Citi Field and completely sold out, so Rolling Loud is expecting this year to be just as successful–if not more.

“I think that we will. I think we will always do more than we did the time before,” said co-founder of Rolling Loud Matt Zingler to The Miami New Times.

In past years, headlines of the festival have been big names such as 50 Cent, Kanye West, and Travis Scott, all of whom have won many awards over the course of their careers for their music.  The festival begins at 4 p.m. on Sept. 23, and general admission ticket prices range from  $185 to $385, also with an optional $200 food and beverage pass.

Rolling Loud Music Festival’s main goal is not only to give fans an exciting opportunity to see all their favorite rappers and hip-hop artists in one place, but also to give aspiring artists a chance to make it big. 

“Some of my favorite artists have gotten their start through Rolling Loud, such as Tyler The Creator.  I am really looking forward to new artists at this festival, so I can have the opportunity to discover their music,” said sophomore Charlotte Packer.

One of the headliners, Nicki Minaj, is said to be the main star for this festival.  She will open up the event on Friday afternoon.  The star had a new single come out recently titled Super Freaky Girl.  It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and was Minaj’s first ever solo No. 1 debut.  She also released an album this summer called Queen Radio: Volume 1, which fans are expecting her to play at the festival.

“I am so excited that Nicki is coming to Rolling Loud because I hear she is a great performer, and I’m so excited that everyone is going to be able to see her live.  I really want her to play some of her popular songs like Super Freaky Girl, Anaconda, Starships, Super Bass and Did It On’em.  I would also love for her to play some of her more unpopular songs, so they could get recognition.  I hope that other female rappers such as Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat, Coi Leray and others join her on the stage,” said sophomore Ben Scharfstein.

A$AP Rocky on the other hand, has not released an album since 2018.  He has, however, released 4 singles in the past year—none of which have been commercially successful.  He has been teasing for a new album for a while now and has publicly stated that he will be collaborating with rapper Playboi Carti soon, although there is no official release date.  Fans are hoping for a surprise performance from the two of them at the festival, as Playboi Carti is also headlining. 

Carti was added to the NYC Rolling Loud lineup just over a month before the event.  This was not a huge surprise to fans, though, since he has been at every Rolling Loud event in North America since 2021.  Fans are excited to see him perform songs from his 2020 album Whole Lotta Red. 

The final headliner of the event, Future, is also highly anticipated.  His newest album, I NEVER LIKED YOU, was released in April 2022 and features hits such as “PUFFIN ON ZOOTIES” and “WAIT FOR YOU.”  The album debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Top 200, and sold over 222,000 copies in its first week.  Nonetheless, fans are ecstatic to see the rapper perform these songs live, as he has not done so yet.

“‘LOVE YOU BETTER’ is for sure my favorite song on Future’s new album, and I can’t believe he still hasn’t played it live.  I really hope he plays that song and ‘LIKE ME’ at the festival,” said sophomore Myla Tannenbaum.

Overall, the Rolling Loud Festival seems as if it will be a major success.  With popular artists performing their new music and fans flocking to see them do just that, the event is expected to achieve an even greater level of success than they have in past years.