Kanye West drops out of Rolling Loud Miami fest; Kid Cudi takes his slot
West last appeared on a festival stage as a special guest at Rolling Loud California last year.
Kanye West will not be appearing at the Rolling Loud Miami 2022 anymore. Organizers announced that the rapper/producer is no longer co-headlining and that Kid Cudi has replaced him.
Rolling Loud tweeted on Sunday that West dropped out of his headlining set, scheduled to take place on July 22. “Due to circumstances outside of our control, Ye will no longer be performing at Rolling Loud Miami 2022,” the festival posted. It then stated that Cudi would be the new headliner.
Rolling Loud co-founders Tariq Cherif and Matt Zingler issued a joint statement regarding West’s cancellation, according to The Hollywood Reporter:
“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.”
West himself has yet to comment on the cancellation. This comes after the 24-time Grammy Award winner also dropped out of his headlining set at Coachella 2022. The Weeknd replaced him.
The last time West appeared on a festival stage was at Rolling Loud California 2021 as a special guest. However, his most recent live performance in front of an audience was on July 8 during a concert by The Game. He rapped his guest verse to his and Game’s 2021 collaboration, “Eazy.” Game listed West as co-executive producer of his forthcoming album, “Drillmatic: Heart vs. Mind.”
The choice of Cudi to replace West at Rolling Loud is an interesting one. The two had a public falling out earlier this year. Cudi further confirmed the state of their relationship when he addressed his fans on Twitter about their collaboration on Pusha T’s latest album, “It’s Almost Dry,” for the track “Rock N Roll.” Cudi wrote that West “is not my friend” and “Rock N Roll” will be “the last song” he and West will ever do.
West and Cudi have collaborated on numerous songs over more than a decade, including “Heartless,” “All of the Lights,” “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1” and a full collaborative album, 2018’s “Kids See Ghost.”
Other headliners at Rolling Loud are Future and Kendrick Lamar. The festival will also feature performances by Lil Uzi Vert, Playboi Carti, Three 6 Mafia, Saweetie, Lil Baby, Kevin Gates, and many more.
TheGrio music writer Matthew Allen contributed to this article.
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