Akademiks says Plaqueboymax’s decision to turn down a would-be performance slot at Rolling Loud marks a “brilliant” move from the Twitch star.
To be clear, Ak wasn't criticizing the fest itself, but was instead offering praise for Max's larger “vision” for his career. Addressing the situation during a recent stream, Ak first spoke more generally about the streaming space’s current impact on music and how some are entrenched in what he considers an outdated mentality.
“It’s showing that you could be naive and just be mad old school like, ‘Yo, these streamer n***as,’ or you could realize what music and attention is these days,” he said. “There is no, ‘Oh, that guy’s just an internet nerd.’ No, there’s mad cool n***as, there’s mad musicians that are streaming.”
Ak then played a clip of Max saying that he had received an offer to perform at Rolling Loud. Per Max, he “declined” the invitation because he wants his first show to be one he has more control over. Ak agreed, calling this a “brilliant” stance to take at this point in Max’s ongoing rise.
“By the way, brilliant,” Ak said, as seen in the video above. “Yo, the wherewithal to say no. This is one thing I love about the new streaming atmosphere, whether it’s Kai saying no to a shit ton of money or even Plaqueboymax. Rolling Loud is like, bro, it’s Rolling Loud. For you to say no to it? But you see the vision.”
Ak continued, “If I’m gonna brand what I’m doing and I’m having this impact on music and culture that no one has ever seen how I’m doing it, the first time people see me should be in a way that I curate. Not me just running out on stage and they dropping the beat and the crowd going crazy. Good for the ‘gram but the brand I’m building is so priceless. So I thought this was dope.”
When reached for comment by Complex on Wednesday, Matt Zingler and Tariq Cherif, co-founders and co-CEOs of Rolling Loud, confirmed the Max offer.
“At Rolling Loud we love giving artists their first big performance, so we wanted to offer that to Max,” the two said in a statement to Complex. “But we get where his head's at and the offer still stands whenever he’s ready.”
Rolling Loud recently announced details for its 2025 edition at Hollywood Park Grounds in Inglewood. Headlining the March festival are ASAP Rocky, Playboi Carti, and Peso Pluma, the latter making his Rolling Loud California debut. Among those on the lineup is Gelo, a.k.a. LiAngelo Ball, whose recently released “Tweaker” track has proven to be a serious hit.
Max, meanwhile, has sustained a headlines presence in recent weeks due, in part, to that whole please-don’t-smoke-in-here non-incident involving Fivio Foreign and Lil Tjay. Most recently, Max reacted to an apparent diss from Fivio in response to the situation, though he was quick to ask, “You dissing me or shouting me out?”
