Rolling Loud co-founder and owner Tariq Cherif took aim at the EDM community and DJs that “just push play” last night in response to a Twitter user who tried to throw shade at “basic” festival goers.
“Regular People: Rolling Loud and Coachella are the best festivals in the world,” the tweet set up. “Ravers: Hold my beer.” The tweet pictured photos from festivals Tomorrowland, EDC Las Vegas, Lost Lands, and Electric Forest.
Rather than take a pressional stance and just ignore a viral tweet from some random user on Twitter, Cherif hit back with, “Lol. They need all that production because the DJ’s just push play and fake a ‘performance.’
“Also, Rolling Loud is 5 years old. Find pictures EDC, Tomorrowland, or Ultra in their 5th year and put those up against Rolling Loud. And then, hold my joint.”
Lol. They need all that production because the DJ’s just push play and fake a “performance”
Also, Rolling Loud is 5 years old. Find pictures EDC, Tomorrowland, or Ultra in their 5th year and put those up against Rolling Loud. And then, hold my joint. https://t.co/84oKFQ7GYF
— Tariq (@TariqCherif) October 14, 2019
He could have had a perfectly valid and concise point in that any those festivals in their fifth year would have looked quite mediocre in comparison to their current iterations (with the exception Lost Lands, now in its 3rd year, which is already quite stellar); however, when he took aim at DJs, he opened himself up to intense criticism and mockery from the EDM community and many the responses were critical blows.
Note: Rolling Loud is commonly cited as being owned by Insomniac Events, which is not technically true. Insomniac is the festival’s local partner for shows in California (source), but Rolling Loud itself is an independent company (source).
I will one hundred percent drop money at a rave festival where the acts typically aren’t late or getting arrested and I actually have value for my buck and I’m not even an EDM fan like that but come on.
— Issiah Silva (@IssiahSilva) October 14, 2019
Lost lands has only been around for a few years too tho lol
— boo wop? ♡ (@boo_wop) October 15, 2019
I love edm and rap music but I’d rather watch a show with amazing production than a rapper yell over their vocal track which is just as bad as “pushing play”
— Logan M. (@941Logan) October 14, 2019
well, technology and the internet wasnt so up there during the early rave days more than a decade ago lol, and lost lands sold out in their first 3 years. we’ll wait for the 5th i guess to prove your point.
— spooky flavor (@LoudFlavor) October 15, 2019
But hella rappers just show up and spit adlibs over a backing track…
— KVM (@kaiju_kam) October 15, 2019
This was from Tomorrowland in 2010. It started in 2005. pic.twitter.com/4K1RddkuYw
— Aj (@Alcx_) October 15, 2019
As a lover both genres, this tweet is just dumb af. I could easily say the same about rappers rapping a few words from there songs and nothing else bar jumping around. Stop hating. Both different and both can be amazing ??
— Sam Baker (@SamBakerDJ) October 14, 2019
Ok EDM twitter, which part my tweet pissed you f more? The part about DJ’s pushing play or the part where I point out that we’re in our 5th year and EDC/ultra have been in the game longer?
— Tariq (@TariqCherif) October 15, 2019
Moral the story: be careful who you try to drag on Twitter, you might just go down with them.
Photo Stephen Bondio Photography for Movement