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XXXTentacion Concert Promoter: ‘He Doesn’t Learn’
Rapper
Video surfaced of the South Florida rapper crowd surfing during his set, and then getting into an altercation with a member of the crowd, beating someone over the head with a microphone. He said it was self-defense, later clarifying on his Instagram, “So before anybody sees the video and makes an assumption, I‘m gonna beat everyone to it and let everyone know. Yo, I ended up punching someone because they punched me in my shit,” he posted.
The Rolling Loud festival had major hip hop stars at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, Calif., Oct 21-22, including Lil Wayne, Travis Scott, Schoolboy Q, Lil Uzi Vert and many others.
With a trial set to begin following charges of assaulting a pregnant girlfriend, XXXTentacion also made headlines this year for being attacked on stage as well as for being forced to cancel a free concert appearance in Florida when the crowd became too large and unmanageable.
In September, Pitchfork released details of the alleged assault, which occurred last October, after obtaining a 142-page testimony from the alleged victim. It includes graphic detail such as breaking “a good 30” clothes hangers over her legs, holding her head underwater, punching, stomping and head-butting. XXXTentacion has denied the allegations, and said she wasn’t pregnant. His trial is scheduled to begin Dec. 11, with him facing charges of aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, domestic battery by strangulation, and false imprisonment and witness tampering in relation to the allegations.
Following the Rolling Loud incident and already facing threats of protest, XXXTentacion was removed from the Oct. 27 Halloween Lit Party at the Adams Center in Missoula, Mont., featuring Tyga, Lil Pump and Famous Dex.
In an email, agent Cara Lewis told Pollstar that XXXTentacion “is in the studio finishing a record and that is why Missoula had to get postponed to a later time period.”
The show, without XXXTentacion, is still on at the University of Montana Missoula campus.
Promoter Lafonte Joe of Sound Live Music Group told Pollstar the show has sold about 2,000 tickets so far.
“Keep in mind, it was not just Missoula,” Joe told Pollstar. “We had him for a big show in Seattle with Chris Brown and some other artists that he was on, and he canceled both shows on us. But they told us it was due to the judge and all his legal issues.”
Joe said he had booked three dates on his tour about seven or eight months ago, with shows in Boise and Seattle, “and the shows were great,” Joe said. “There weren’t any problems and all the shows sold out.”
He intended to do a 15-city tour with XXXTentacion in 2018, paying the artist $1.5 million, he said, but, following the Rolling Loud incident and with the recent cancellations, “he doesn’t learn,” Joe said, acknowleding the rapper’s troubles but saying that as a promoter he has to try to give the young people what they want.
Joe’s company has promoted recent shows with Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg and has 11 dates with Ja Rule and Ashanti among other shows on the books.
XXXTentacion reportedly just signed a $6 million deal with Capitol Music Group’s Caroline. His debut LP 17 debuted at No. 2 upon its release.
He’s been a big draw this summer, with sellouts reported to Pollstar including at the Majestic Theatre in Detroit (1,100 tickets), Myth in Saint Paul (1,700 tickets), Showbox Sodo (1,850), Roseland Theatre in Portland (1,360), Regency Ballroom in San Francisco (1,424) and The Catalyst in Santa Cruz (1,000 tickets) all this June.