This weekend, music festival Rolling Loud makes its Orlando debut at Camping World Stadium, with a week of related events already underway across downtown and beyond, for a citywide event dubbed RL Week.
Rolling Loud started as a single-day fest in Miami and has grown into a globally known brand reaching as far as Sydney and Thailand, but its foundation was built here in Central Florida, according to Darren Wilson, better known as DJ Five Venoms.
Wilson has been along for the ride since the beginning. As Rolling Loud’s official DJ since its first year in 2015, he knew founders Matt Zingler and Tariq Cherif through Dope ENT, an outfit that booked regional hip-hop shows and built audiences across Orlando, Tampa and Miami.
Wilson met Zingler and Cherif years earlier while DJing for Orlando artist Wes Fif, and ultimately DJed all of Dope ENT’s shows for four years. He helped craft what would become Rolling Loud…