{"id":95866,"date":"2021-07-12T12:00:06","date_gmt":"2021-07-12T16:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=95866"},"modified":"2021-07-12T08:48:56","modified_gmt":"2021-07-12T12:48:56","slug":"rolling-loud-wwe-hip-hop-synergy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/07\/12\/rolling-loud-wwe-hip-hop-synergy\/","title":{"rendered":"Rolling Loud Partnership Cements WWE\u2019s Pivot to Hip Hop Synergy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hard rock and pro wrestling have a long history. A theme by storied metal legends AC\/DC still intones the beginning of each installment of <em>Friday Night SmackDown. <\/em>Rock acts like Alter Bridge, Metallica, Motorhead, and Living Colour have provided entrance themes for <em>World Wrestling Entertainment <\/em>Superstars <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/06\/25\/edge-returns-to-smackdown\/\" target=\"_self\">Edge<\/a>, Undertaker, Triple H, <\/strong>and <strong>CM Punk, <\/strong>respectively.<\/p>\n<p>However, the hip-hop music medium also has its stake in the history of WWE. Rapper <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/insider.espn.com\/video\/clip\/_\/id\/15134508\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Snoop Dogg<\/a>, <\/strong>cousin of WWE superstar <strong>Sasha Banks, <\/strong>has made many appearances on WWE television, and is a 2016 inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame. Female rap pioneers <strong>Salt N Pepa<\/strong> performed their staple \u201cWhatta Man\u201d at <em>WrestleMania 11<\/em>, and a frequently circulated gif and meme captures them being quite smitten with <strong>Bret Hart<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"bLdTYuBBSvlmHYzflb7JTA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.ie\/detail\/80437454\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'bLdTYuBBSvlmHYzflb7JTA',sig:'pnqLEPzdVHpXU8dLDjW9Ke1bXLHhvGT3b2xrgKxvrfA=',w:'594px',h:'419px',items:'80437454',caption: true ,tld:'ie',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Hart and fellow Hall of Famer <strong>Ric Flair <\/strong>have both capitalized on their popularity with the hip hop crowd by lending their trademarks to flashy tracksuits any, or perhaps only, a rapper could love issued by pop culture-inspired athleisure brand Chalk Line Apparel. Both hip hop and pro wrestling were reaching new and unprecedented global audiences throughout the 80s and 90s. The larger than life, \u2018stylin\u2019 profilin\u2019, limousine ridin\u2019 \u201d lifestyle Flair boasted of in promos made him an early template for the lux life rappers aspired to, and he\u2019s paid it forward with appearances in music videos with hip hop artists like \u201cRic Flair Drip\u201d by Metro Boomin and Offset. While not known for his \u201cdrip\u201d, Hart\u2019s earnest promos, inspired by his real-life background, had a compelling realism, not unlike the stripped bare testimonials of gangster rap anthems about hustling hard to succeed.<\/p>\n<p>However, it is not just retired Hall of Famers like Hart and Flair who are pivoting toward this overlapping demographic. In 2021, WWE played host to Grammy-winning rapper <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2018\/07\/08\/bad-bunny-and-his-profound-love-for-pro-wrestling\/\" target=\"_self\">Bad Bunny<\/a>, <\/strong>who acquitted himself admirably in the ring and scored the 24\/7 championship. They have also made overtures towards reality star turned rap phenom <strong>Cardi B, <\/strong>and her recent single \u201cUp\u201d can be heard in commercials for 2021\u2019s <em>SummerSlam<\/em><strong>.<\/strong> The theme for <em>WrestleMania 37 <\/em>was not a sonorous arena rock anthem as in years past, but the seminal 2020 Hip Hop\/R&amp;B single \u201cSave Your Tears\u201d by <strong>The Weeknd.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>WWE\u2019s television programming is returning to live tapings from venues across the country. On July 23, SmackDown will be coming to audiences live from a music festival that markets itself as the biggest hip-hop music festival in the world.\u00a0 Rolling Loud Music Festival, to be held in Miami, is the first music festival that the WWE&#8217;s main brands have collaborated with. The CEO and co-founder of Rolling Loud, Tariq Cherif, stated in the press release announcing the partnership that he grew up on \u201cSweet chin music,\u201d a reference to Hall of Famer <strong>Shawn Michaels\u2019s <\/strong>formidable kick. Cherif went on to state that he had long been \u201cmesmerized by the spectacle that Vince McMahon and co have built at WWE,\u201d and is eager about, \u201cweaving our two storylines into one world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The possibilities of celebrity cameos while the WWE is in residence are tantalizing, and right in line with WWE President and Chief Revenue Officer <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2020\/08\/15\/nick-khan-importance-wwe\/\" target=\"_self\"><strong>Nick Khan<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s stated desire to draw more celebrity names to appearances on WWE products. The opportunity for celebrity appearances is ripe, with Rolling Loud being headlined by <strong>A$ap Rocky, Post Malone, <\/strong>and rapper\/producer <strong>Travis Scott<\/strong> who, like WWE legend <strong>Mick Foley, <\/strong>refers to one of his alter egos as <strong>Cactus Jack.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Although the move to broadcast from a hip hop music festival is unprecedented, it will no doubt seem like a homecoming to many fans of both pro wrestling and hip hop, who have long found common links in the hustle, grind, guts, glory, and larger than life personalities of both worlds.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p><em>Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/watch.wwe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WWE Network<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.peacocktv.com\/watch\/home\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Peacock<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Looking to talk wrestling, pro football, or any number of sports? Head on over to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/boards\/index.php\" target=\"_self\">LWOS Boards<\/a> to engage in conversation with fellow fans!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hard rock and pro wrestling have a long history. A theme by storied metal legends AC\/DC still intones the beginning of each installment of Friday Night SmackDown. Rock acts like Alter Bridge, Metallica, Motorhead, and Living Colour have provided entrance themes for World Wrestling Entertainment Superstars Edge, Undertaker, Triple H, and CM Punk, respectively. However, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3715,"featured_media":95945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,26,3],"tags":[362,140,328,201,7845,469,395,297,75],"class_list":["post-95866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-smackdown","category-wwe-universe","tag-bret-hart","tag-cm-punk","tag-edge","tag-mick-foley","tag-nick-khan","tag-ric-flair","tag-shawn-michaels","tag-the-undertaker","tag-triple-h"],"modified_by":"Alex Richards, LWOF Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3715"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}