One of hip-hop’s biggest festivals comes from two millennials in Florida.
Rolling Loud, a three-day concert starting May 11 at the stadium where the Miami Dolphins play home games, will be headlined by J. Cole, Travis Scott and Future, with Migos, Post Malone and more than 100 other rappers and groups also performing.
The annual event, now in its fourth year, was created and continues to be run by Tariq Cherif, 28 years old, and Matt Zingler, 29. The two men met as elementary-school students in Hollywood, Fla., and cut their teeth in the music business promoting local shows by rappers like Rick Ross and Kendrick Lamar.
“At the time, [hip-hop] was a niche genre,” Mr. Cherif says. “But as the niche genre became mainstream, our brand grew.”
In an industry where high-profile festivals like Coachella, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo have corporate owners such as Live Nation and AEG Presents, Rolling Loud stands out. “Our independence has allowed us the freedom to create this world,” says Mr. Zingler.
It hasn’t always been easy. In its first year, Rolling Loud drew 7,000 attendees but lost money.
“It rained like crazy,” Mr. Cherif says. “A lot of things went wrong.”
The next year, he and Mr. Zingler generated enough revenue to recoup their first-year losses and turn a profit. Last year’s Rolling Loud, whose three-day passes cost $300 plus $83 in fees, brought in 40,000 attendees a day. Now the Miami festival is “self-sustained through event revenues,” a festival spokesman says.
Austin McGreevy is among the 60,000 fans expected to attend this year’s Rolling Loud each day. The 19-year-old student, a freshman at the University of Miami, says festivals sometimes make the mistake of spending most of their budget on big headliners, at the expense of the rest of the bill. Rolling Loud’s lineup, however, is notably comprehensive, he says.
“It’s a who’s-who of hip-hop pretty much,” Mr. McGreevy says.
Cultivating relationships with artists and their managers and agents early on has been key.
On Sept. 25, 2012, Messrs. Cherif and Zingler helped Mr. Lamar perform in Tallahassee, Fla. Five years later, he headlined Rolling Loud.
“When we’re reaching out to [artists] today, they think, man, these kids have come a long way—and I’ve come a long way,” Mr. Zingler says.
Mr. Cherif adds: “Our offers still got to be competitive. It’s not like we’re getting favors here.”
Zach Iser, an agent at Creative Artists Agency whose clients include Future and SZA, says Mr. Cherif and Mr. Zingler spent at least four years booking concerts throughout Florida to develop relationships. “Because I have worked with them to book all of their headline artists each year of the festival, they have been good about offering many of my developing and mid-level artists festival slots,” he says.
Rolling Loud’s lineup spans the subgenres and generation gaps of hip-hop, ranging from mature stars (Gucci Mane, Lil Wayne ) and mainstream favorites (Future, 21 Savage) to left-field acts (Big K.R.I.T., N.E.R.D, Metro Boomin) and up-and-comers (Ski Mask The Slump God, CupcakKe, Yung Lean).
Despite hip-hop’s popularity, large-scale rap festivals aren’t common. Rock the Bells, a long-running hip-hop festival, ended in 2013. New York hip-hop radio station HOT 97 hosts a one-day “Summer Jam” every June, but with 15 acts this year, it is much smaller than Rolling Loud.
Jeannie Wilkinson, former senior vice-president of global research at Live Nation and now executive director of the Music Industry Research Association, says the economics of single-genre festivals are tough because their potential audience is smaller.
With rap, many festival professionals also lack strong ties to artists and managers. “It’s a relationship business,” Ms. Wilkinson says.
Another factor: the perception that rap events are more prone to violence, something promoters say is based on stereotypes, not reality, but which can lead to higher security and insurance costs.
There were 47 arrests at last year’s Rolling Loud in Miami—most of them not related to violence—which is in line with other festivals of its size, according to the Miami Police Department.
“There’s a lot of liability involved, on the insurance end—just because of stereotypes,” Mr. Cherif says.
The roots of Rolling Loud go back to the duo’s college days.
As hip-hop fans, Mr. Cherif and Mr. Zingler noticed that rap events weren’t as bountiful in Florida’s markets as electronic-dance-music ones. In 2010, they began working as promoters, earning kudos for lining up three to five shows in different parts of the state for an artist instead of just one.
In Florida, “we were the guys you’d go to,” Mr. Zingler says.
They modeled Rolling Loud not on Rock the Bells or other hip-hop shows but on EDM festivals that draw tens of thousands of fans. At the same time, South Florida became one of rap’s hottest scenes.
Now Rolling Loud is expanding into new markets. The two owners last year launched events at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, Calif., which is operated by Live Nation, and the National Orange Show Events Center in San Bernardino, Calif. Live Nation declined to comment.
They are working on festivals in Europe and Asia and expect to announce some events this year. Initially, “I didn’t want to expand,” says Mr. Cherif, who works more closely with artists, while Mr. Zingler handles logistics. “I’m slow, and Matt’s fast.”
One of Mr. Cherif’s priorities is ensuring quality across events. “I see Rolling Loud like Coca-Cola , McDonald’s , ” he says.
Mr. Cherif “will be like, ‘oh man, I don’t know if that’s a good thing to do,’ ” Mr. Zingler says, “but realistically, he’s going to jump in with me, because we’re brothers.”
Write to Neil Shah at neil.shah@wsj.com