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Rolling Loud New York Won’t Return in 2023 Due to ‘Logistical Factors’

Festival organizers said they will return 'when the time is right.' The Miami edition of Rolling Loud is still scheduled for July.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 13: Lil Tecca performs live during Rolling Loud music festival at Citi Field on October 13, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Steven Ferdman/Getty Images)

The popular New York edition of Rolling Loud will not be happening in 2023, festival organizers said in a statement posted yesterday (March 17) that citied “logistical factors beyond our control” as the reason.

“For the last few years, we’ve made some legendary moments happen in Queens,” the statement begins, sharing memories including Playboi Carti and Lil Uzi Vert’s reunion, Juice Wrld’s final festival performance before his death, and “the beginning of the King Vamp era.”

Organizers also emphasized it’s not the end of Rolling Loud New York, which takes place at Citi Field in Queens, and that the festival is simply taking a break. “Don’t worry, this isn’t ‘goodbye,’ more like ‘see you later.’ We’ll be back in New York when the time is right.” See the full statement below.

Regarded as the “largest hip-hop festival in the world,” Rolling Loud began in Miami in 2015 and has since expanded to New York, California, Europe, and Asia. The 2023 California edition just wrapped up on March 5, headlined by Playboy Carti, Travis Scott, and Future, and making headlines for a surprise guest appearance by Justin Bieber during Don Toliver’s set on March 4.

The New York version has been plagued by controversial moments ever since it launched in 2019, in particular when the NYPD encouraged organizers to remove several rappers from the inaugural bill (including drill stars like Pop Smoke) in the belief that their appearances would lead to a “higher risk of violence.” Rolling Loud New York took a break in 2020 due to the pandemic, but the NYPD got involved again at last year, leading to several artists such as 22Gz being yanked from the lineup (he was also barred in 2019).

Rolling Loud’s flagship Miami event is up next on July 21-23, though no lineup has been revealed yet.