UPDATE (July 17):
Rolling Loud co-founders Tariq Cherif and Matt Zingler issued a statement regarding the festival replacing Kanye West as Rolling Loud Miami’s headliner with Kid Cudi. It reads:
"We were looking forward to Ye headlining Rolling Loud Miami 2022. We spent months working with him and his team on the performance. Unfortunately, Ye has decided that he will no longer be performing. This is the first time a headliner has ever pulled off our show and though we don’t take it lightly, we wish him the best. We look forward to welcoming Kid Cudi as a headliner in Miami and we can’t wait to see what he has in store."
Despite Kanye's drop off from the 2022 Rolling Loud Miami event, RL co-founder Tariq Cherif wanted to shared that organizers had developed a strong personal and professional relationship with Ye that started in December of 2021 and Rolling Loud received multiple assurances from Mr. West about the Miami 2022 performance.
RL organizers provided information below that elucidates the relationship between Ye and Rolling Loud:
Ye performing at Rolling Loud California 2021 as a special guest, which was his first festival appearance since before the pandemic. According to RL organizers, Kanye did not receive compensation for this performance, but performed out of respect for Rolling Loud as hip-hop’s biggest stage.
Ye and Rolling Loud co-founder Tariq Cherif developed a personal relationship after the California performance, which Tariq shared on his Instagram page. See below.
Additionally, Rolling Loud promoted Ye’s The Donda 2 Experience at Miami’s LoanDepot Park on Feb. 22, 2022, featuring the world premiere of music from Ye’s new album Donda 2.
Ye was so enthusiastic about the festival that he urged Rolling Loud to reveal the Miami 2022 lineup at 8:20 p.m. on a Tuesday evening, days before the scheduled announcement time.
Ye also reposted the Rolling Loud Miami 2022 flyer on his Instagram (see here for social media reaction), which he did not do for Coachella.
ORIGINAL STORY:
In a shocking turn of events, Kanye West has dropped off of headlining 2022 Rolling Loud Miami. Kid Cudi will perform in his place.
On Sunday (July 17), organizers of Rolling Loud announced on the festival’s Instagram account that Ye is no longer a headliner for the 2022 Rolling Loud Miami event, which takes place on July 22-24. However, Kid Cudi has stepped in to replace the Chicago rapper-producer.
“Due to circumstances outside of our control, Ye will no longer be performing at Rolling Loud Miami 2022. Please welcome @kidcudi!” the caption reads, along with an updated flyer of the new three-day lineup.
According to the digital poster, Kid Cudi will headline day one of the festival on Friday, July 22, with Future headlining on July 23, and Kendrick Lamar closing out the event on July 24.
In the comment section, Tariq wrote, "Tried to convince Ye to stay on the lineup but he wasn’t having it," along with a person shrugging emoji.
It’s unclear why Ye decided to not perform at Rolling Loud Miami.