10.12.2023
Rolling Loud & Overtime Elite Join Forces for a Strategic Partnership Ahead of Season Three
Introducing… the Rolling Loud Basketball Team
Rolling Loud & OTE Reveal Roster, Logo, and Jerseys for the Los Angeles-Based Team, With a Merch Capsule On Sale Soon
The World’s Largest Hip-Hop Festival Expands Its Partnership With the Basketball League, Following Last Year’s OTE x Rolling Loud Semi-Finals, and Continues to Deepen Its Ties to Southern California Ahead of Next Year’s Festival
The Announcement:
Rolling Loud, the World’s Largest Hip-Hop Festival, announces that as a part of their partnership with Overtime Elite, they will assume the naming rights for the Los Angeles-based Southern California Academy team, now named “Rolling Loud,” for all OTE league games starting this season. Rolling Loud becomes the first brand to lend its name to a team in the history of Overtime Elite. Additionally, the new Rolling Loud team reveals its 2023-2024 roster, including two Top 100 prospects from the Class of 2024: Larry Johnson (Castaic, CA) and Naasir Cunningham (Gladstone, NJ).
Along with the announcement of the team, Rolling Loud and Overtime Elite will launch a brand new merch capsule, featuring jerseys, logos, and designs inspired by the team’s fresh new look. Stay tuned for on-sale details for Rolling Loud x OTE merch capsule.
Rolling Loud’s new Overtime Elite team expands the game-changing partnership between the two innovative companies. Last season, Rolling Loud sponsored Overtime Elite’s playoff semifinals, titled the OTE x Rolling Loud Semi-Finals, which broadcast live on Prime Video in February 2023. The OTE x Rolling Loud Semi-Finals featured a performance by star Florida rapper Luh Tyler, at OTE Arena in Atlanta, which provided the basis for Tyler’s video single “Put In Overtime.” Rolling Loud designed a special “Cold Hearts” merch capsule for the event, featuring custom designs inspired by OTE teams Cold Hearts, YNG Dreamerz, and City Reapers. Purchase items from the collection HERE.
Speaking on the partnership, Rolling Loud co-Founders Matt Zingler & Tariq Cherif remarked, “The sport and spirit of basketball is an important part of the Rolling Loud experience, so we’re excited to expand that connection beyond the festival grounds with Overtime Elite. We’re proud to join with this exciting new league and help support the next generation of athletes in Los Angeles — our second hometown. Rolling Loud x OTE, lfg.”
Tyler Rutstein, Overtime’s Chief Brand Officer, added, “As we continue to expand Overtime Elite’s brand and innovate with like-minded partners, we are excited to grow our partnership with Rolling Loud in season three. There’s an undeniable intersection between basketball, music, fashion and partnering with Rolling Loud allows us to be in the center of it all creating new experiences for both our players and our fans.”
The new team continues to deepen Rolling Loud’s ties to Southern California, home to one of Rolling Loud’s two U.S. festivals in 2023. Last year, Rolling Loud made a triumphant return to Los Angeles, with Rolling Loud California. Featuring headlining performances by Travis Scott, Future, and Playboi Carti, and performances by mainstays in the hip-hop world and Los Angeles’s busy rap scene, the festival was the first music festival to ever take place in Hollywood Park, on the grounds adjacent to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA. Rolling Loud California followed four previous Rolling Loud festivals in Southern California since 2017, including two in Los Angeles.
Stay tuned for many more announcements about Rolling Loud x OTE’s partnership, and about Rolling Loud California 2024, before the new season of Overtime Elite tips off on December 1st.
View the full Rolling Loud team roster HERE
Check out more information about Overtime Elite, and the Rolling Loud team HERE
Follow the Rolling Loud team on Instagram
Critical Praise:
“Built from scratch by lifelong music fans Matt Zingler and Tariq Cherif, Rolling Loud’s early strengths were its daring curation and booking, elevating a new generation of artists with exciting live shows and captivating energy. Today, the biggest performers headline the raucous Miami festival, coming from all over the world, often driven solely by their love and trust of Zingler and Cherif.” – Billboard
“From niche hip-hop festival to must-play event for some of the biggest stars in music.” – Pollstar
“Until Elon Musk involuntarily envelops society into a physical cloud universe, Rolling Loud will be the closest experience to actually living inside your streaming app.” – Complex
“Rolling Loud’s annual New York edition is always something special, but this year’s Halloween-weekend extravaganza (not to mention the first post-pandemic) brought seriously spectacular energy to Queens’ Citi Field.” – Highsnobiety
“Rolling Loud is a lifestyle brand. They are more than just the shows. They have built a community with their consumers and are building new channels to maintain continuity” – Forbes
“In four and a half years — beginning small in Miami, and now promoting Coachella-sized events around the country — Rolling Loud has established itself as a playground for the young…This time last year, many of the rappers now drawing crowds of several thousand were barely known.” – The New York Times
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The Background:
ABOUT ROLLING LOUD
Founded by 7-time Billboard Hip-Hop Power Players Matt Zingler & Tariq Cherif as a one-day Miami show, Rolling Loud has grown into a global festival phenomenon, putting on shows on both coasts and in multiple countries across four continents. Rolling Loud is the premier festival brand in hip-hop, known for its expert curation of wide-ranging lineups that reflect the state of the genre.
In 2023, Rolling Loud expanded its empire even further, hosting a series of star-studded festivals in all corners of the globe. The festival kicked off its biggest year yet by returning to Los Angeles for Rolling Loud California. Just weeks later, Rolling Loud debuted Rolling Loud Thailand, its first-ever Asian festival. Rolling Loud continues its world tour this summer with three European shows including Rolling Loud Portugal, and the inaugural editions of Rolling Loud Rotterdam and Rolling Loud Germany.
Rolling Loud season culminated with its flagship festival, Rolling Loud Miami 2023, which returns for its eighth edition on July 21-23, featuring headliners Travis Scott, A$AP Rocky, and Playboi Carti, and a wide-ranging lineup including Latin stars Anuel AA & El Alfa, hardcore punk band Turnstile, and rising alt-pop singer Foushée.
Stay tuned for announcements about Rolling Loud’s 2024 World Tour, featuring events in four continents, including upcoming festivals in Los Angeles, Europe, and more.
ABOUT OVERTIME ELITE
Overtime Elite (OTE) is a professional basketball league featuring top 16-19-year-old domestic and international players. There are eight teams in the league, and games are played primarily at the OTE Arena in Atlanta. OTE, owned and operated by Overtime, brings fans as close as possible to the action through Prime Video and broad digital distribution on accounts that have millions of followers.
Links:
Rolling Loud: website | facebook | twitter | instagram
For full information, head to
https://www.rollingloud.com
Check out Rolling Loud on Twitch: twitch.tv/rollingloud