Among all of the Rolling Loud controversy popping up recently, here’s something else to add to it. Recently, the Rolling Loud cofounder, Tariq Cherif, took to Twitter to voice some opinions on EDM DJs. There’s a tweet going around that says EDM festivals are better than Rolling Loud. In response, he said that DJs “need all that production because the DJ’s just push play and fake a ‘performance'”. As if Rolling Loud needed any more bad PR.
Even after the initial tweet that blew everything up, Tariq continued to clown on ravers in subsequent tweets. In one tweet, he said “relax, nobody is trying to take away your plur beads”. Of course, EDM Twitter took it upon themselves to respond with backlash. Here’s a few tweets that show both sides of backlash and understanding.
He then went on to talk about how ravers shouldn’t ignore DJs with ghost producers. While he does have a valid point, having a ghost producer still does not equate to playing a fake show. We all know there’s plenty of DJs that have ghosts, but are still real DJs. Among all this talk about “just pressing play,” we should also talk about how the majority of rappers sing a few words at shows and fill the rest with adlibs and jumping around.
Tariq also made a point about how Rolling Loud is only in its 5th year compared to other festivals that have been in the game for a long time. However, it’s not logical to compare festivals like Ultra or EDC in their 5th years because the times were so different. These festivals made their mark in the late 90s/early 2000s. Technology differences play a big role in what was possible for festival production. So, comparing EDC’s 5th year with Rolling Loud’s 5th year makes absolutely no sense.
At the end of this string of tweets, he apologized for offending people and also for tweeting something so “divisive”. After all, music is supposed to bring people together. Whether you like rap, EDM, pop, or country, we should all enjoy it without bashing other people’s music taste. However, I personally would not want to spend my money on a festival where one of its leaders bashes on other genres or festivals. Here are the last tweets Tariq sent out about this situation.
