Rolling Loud has officially announced the lineup for its 2026 festival in Orlando, Florida. The bill features Don Toliver headlining Friday, Playboi Carti on Saturday, and NBA YoungBoy closing out the festival on Sunday.
The festival will take place around Camping World Stadium in downtown Orlando from May 8 to May 10. Three-day General Admission passes start at $279, with three-day VIP passes priced as high as $799.
The festival is also set to include a new generation of up-and-coming artists, including UK underground upstarts like fakemink, EsDeeKid, and Feng, along with rappers pushing forward the rage movement such as 2slimey, Nettspend, and Molly Santana. There are also some surprising appearances, with Pooh Shiesty set to perform after recently being released from prison, along with Chief Keef, plus streamer and rapper Plaqueboymax.
Upon the announcement, the festival’s lineup received criticism online, as many fans were confused about why Florida natives like Ski Mask the Slump God and Kodak Black were not included, and why staple acts such as Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Baby, and Future were missing from the bill.
Commenters took to X voicing their complaints about the festival saying:
In a recent interview with DJ Akademiks, Rolling Loud co-founder Tariq Cherif responded to the criticism, saying:
“We made a conscious decision with this lineup to book artists that are appealing to this new age of hip-hop fan. That is why you see the fakemink’s, the Nettspend’s, the EsDeeKid, OsamaSon, xaviersobased. I mean, I could keep going. Nine Vicious, Apollored, just a lot of these young underground kids. It is like the new wave, like the new X and Skis… if we want to stick around and evolve as a festival, we cannot just give you the same lineup every time.”
Rolling Loud has continued to stand by its decision, stating on X that “people hated on our 2016 lineup too,” which included many small and underground names like Playboi Carti, Lil Yachty, Young Thug, and 21 Savage, who would later go on to become some of the biggest artists in rap today. The festival was originally started with the idea of championing underground talent and giving emerging artists a stage, and this year it seems to be returning to its roots.
Rolling Loud seems to have their eye on the right talent, as they have in years past. This year, they have welcomed the UK underground with some promising names. EsDeeKid has grown astronomically in the past year, gaining 20 million monthly listeners and even collaborating with Timothée Chalamet. fakemink has gotten similar huge looks from Frank Ocean, Playboi Carti, and even going onstage with Drake his 2025 Wireless Festival takeover.
They have continued putting on for the next generation of US underground artists like Che and OsamaSon, who put forth their respective albums, REST IN BASS and Jump Out, both of which received critical acclaim. Both artists also got major love from Kanye and Kim Kardashian’s daughter North West, who has shown much interest in this new wave rap talent that continues buzzing on social media.
Rolling Loud has also received criticism for the location of the festival, but co-founder Tariq Cherif addressed it on Power 105.1, stating:
“LA, New York people are mad...And to tell you the truth, I do not know where we will be in 2027. Maybe we do the Super Bowl model where we go from city to city. We would pick a different city every year, or maybe we stay in Orlando. We are young entrepreneurs. We are iterating, ideating, you know, tinkering, just trying to put our best product forward. But one thing we know is we are the home for hip-hop.”
As Rolling Loud continues to develop as a festival, it has been branching out into other markets through a global expansion, launching events in countries like India and Australia while scaling back US dates, including cutting its New York City and Los Angeles stops for the time being.
You can rep the festival's legacy with Rolling Loud merchandise available on Complex.
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