On the latest episode of “Drink Champs,” N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN sat down with Curren$y, City Girls, and Fivio Foreign during their stop at Rolling Loud Miami.
The event has quickly become the largest hip hop festival in the world. Launched in 2015, Rolling Loud founders Tariq Cherif and Matt Zingler aimed to create a platform to showcase the rich diversity and energy of the genre. Their event grew from a single-day festival with a few thousand attendees to a global phenomenon, expanding to locations such as Los Angeles, New York, Portugal, and Toronto, among others.
The festival earned a reputation for hosting performances from the most significant names in hip hop. It also served as a launchpad for emerging talent, making it a hotbed for discovering new artists. This year’s lineup included Travis Scott, A$AP Rocky, and Playboi Carti as its headlining acts.
Moreover, day one of the 2023 event included Lil Yachty, Ice Spice, Ski Mask the Slump God, Toosii, and more. Meanwhile, Trippie Redd, NAV, Coi Leray, City Girls and Curren$y were among the many to take over the second day. Closing the festivities out were performances from Offset, Bryson Tiller, Latto, Polo G, Central Cee, Fivio Foreign and more.
To give fans a recap, REVOLT compiled a list of nine facts we learned from N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN’s stop at 2023 Rolling Loud Miami. Keep scrolling to read them, and be sure to catch the full episode here.
1. Curren$y on smoking weed in Amsterdam
Pivoting from their discussion about marijuana strands, Curren$y reflected on a moment when he was told that he couldn’t smoke weed in public while in Amsterdam. He shared, “I was stopped in Amsterdam walking to McDonald’s smoking… They was like, ‘You know you can’t just blow past stores smoking?’ I didn’t know that.” Spitta continued, “I thought this was what I was waiting for my whole life.”
2. Curren$y on the struggles of touring overseas
Reflecting on his time overseas during the early 2010s, Curren$y shared why he doesn’t enjoy touring across the globe. The New Orleans rapper claimed that the weed and food were not up to par in comparison to his experience in the United States.
He said, “I only went overseas on one run, bro. One run, then we came back and bought some cars. I was like, ‘I’m straight.’”
Spitta explained, “All the ketchup didn’t taste [like] ketchup. Everything was f**king crazy. It was tough to be happy with weed. It was bad, bro. In every coffee shop that I went to in Amsterdam, it was just not good weed. I couldn’t believe what happened.”
3. JT on the rise of women in hip hop
In contrast to the early ’90s, women are at the forefront of hip hop in 2023. From Megan Thee Stallion to Cardi B, female rappers have gained a considerably loyal fan base and their own chart-topping success that, at many times, triumphs their male counterparts. After N.O.R.E. asked City Girls whether they ever imagined the genre being in its current state, they shared that women were already running hip hop by the time they debuted their 2017 single “F**k Dat N**ga.”
JT said, “When we first came out, it was women. I feel like now labels are seeing women as more fun. TikTok… music ain’t as serious, and we can have more fun with it. Women are more fun than men… It don’t happen for everybody, so you gotta be fire for people to want to carry it from you.”
4. Yung Miami on “Caresha Please” and wanting to be the “Black Oprah”
During an interview with XXL, Yung Miami told the publication about her goals for the future of “Caresha Please.” She said, “I want to go to the highest of the highest. I want to be the Black Oprah.” After social media caught wind of the conversation, she clarified, “The next BLACK OPRAH.”
Revisiting the controversy, Miami stated, “Yeah, I’m the Black Oprah. Like, yeah, what happened? She Black, but I’m just letting you know. I need Oprah to sit down ‘cause I got some questions for her.”
If given the opportunity to interview the talk show host, the Florida native said she would ask her, “What that d**k…? You know what, never mind. I would be like, ‘Oprah, what’s the best, you know…’ Never mind, I’ma just wait.”
5. JT on receiving fan love while being locked up
In 2018, JT began serving her federal prison time for credit card fraud charges. Reflecting on the period before getting locked up, JT shared that Coach K and Pierre “P” Thomas of Quality Control told her to record enough music to last for two years.
“Fans would write me. I would always have mail; physical letters, not email… I felt [the love]. I felt like ‘cause I was the only female of this generation to go to jail… I was in federal prison upstate. I was in the feds,” JT revealed.
She continued, “Before I went to jail, my whole goal was like, ‘Okay, let me make sure I record, record, record.’ Even when Coach or P would talk, their whole thing was, ‘You gotta cut enough records, so this s**t can [work] for 15 months’… By the time I got out, I think we dropped a terrible a** song. I’m not going to say that it just went [and] skyrocketed. It was a pause because I had to go to the halfway house.”
6. Yung Miami on her “golden shower” comments
During a January episode of “Caresha Please,” Miami admitted that she enjoys golden showers while playing her card game, Resha Roulette. “It say, ‘Take a shot if you like golden showers.’ I do. I just like it,” she told Trina. However, during “Quicktime with Slime,” the artist seemingly made a U-turn on her previous statements.
When asked whether they prefer regular showers or golden showers, Miami replied, “I’ma go with…” before being interrupted by EFN, who reminded the artist of her previous statements. “I did. But you should go buy Resha Roulette. I’ma give y’all one; it’s my card game. But I’ma go with regular shower — like three times a day.”
7. Fivio Foreign on the origins of drill music
New York’s rendition of drill rose to the mainstream thanks to artists like Fivio Foreign, Pop Smoke, Sleepy Hallow, and several more. On the topic of where the genre originated, Fivio Foreign said that Chicago was his first taste.
“Shout out to Chicago. [100] percent. That was the first drill music I ever listened to,” he admitted. “I definitely got my beats from London producers at first. I feel like it’s a little slight difference [between] Brooklyn drill, Chicago drill, and London drill.”
8. Fivio Foreign on his recording contract with Ma$e
In a 2022 interview with “Million Dollaz Worth of Game,” Fivio admitted to signing to Ma$e’s Rich Fish label earlier in his career for $5,000. Subsequently, the latter cleared things up and said that he actually gave the “Big Drip” rapper $750,000. Without getting into too much detail, Fivio spoke on what went down.
The Brooklyn star said, “I feel like we was already in and out of the labels due to the litness and the s**t that was happening in New York. Then it got serious, I called a n**ga that knew a n**ga ‘cause I was already in the Ma$e situation already. Like, ‘Get Ma$e on the joint ‘cause it’s lit. We need to go to these meetings and figure s**t out.’ It went like that.”
9. Sosa Geek on appearing on Drake’s “Demons”
Serving as one of his breakout moments, Fivio appeared on Drake’s “Demons” in 2020 alongside fellow Brooklyn native Sosa Geek. The song served as a standout cut on Dark Lane Demo Tapes, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. Revealing the origins behind the collaboration, Fivio and Geek offered their insight.
Geek said, “For a whole year, I didn’t want to go [to the studio]. One day, I went to the studio with Fivi. He said ‘Yo, rap.’ I got 4 million views the next day.”
Fivio added, “This my man. We lit. I’m like, ‘N**ga, intro this s**t. Rap, say some s**t real fast, then I’ma come right after you, then we gon’ go viral.’ They couldn’t stop us. Then afterward, Drake called.”