Police Request Casanova, Pop Smoke and More Be Blocked From Performing at 2019 Rolling Loud New York: Report
The Rolling Loud Festival is going down in New York City this weekend but the lineup will be short a few acts if the New York Police Department has anything to do with it. According to a press release put out by the department and posted by The Fader, police are requesting five rappers including Casanova, Pop Smoke, Don Q, Sheff G and 22GZ not be allowed to perform at the show due to safety issues.
The report went out on Wednesday (Oct. 9) and reads: "The New York Police Department requests the below listed individuals be removed from performing at the Rolling Loud Festival taking place at Citi Field on Saturday October 12, 2019 and Sunday October 13, 2019 due to public safety concerns."
After listing the aforementioned rappers, it continues, "The above listed performers have been affiliated with acts of violence citywide. The New York Police Department believes if these individuals are allowed to perform, there will be a higher risk of violence."
It looks like the police have clearly been keeping tabs of these rappers. Cas was reportedly the victim of a shooting at a video shoot in 2018. His crew was also reportedly involved in an altercation with 6ix9ine's camp at a Barclays Center event that led to a shooting. Cas' alleged gang affiliation was brought up by 6ix9ine during the rapper's recent testimony in a federal trial.
Cas responded to the news of his cancelled show on Friday night (Oct. 11), via social media.
"I JUST WANNA LIVE," he captioned a photo of the Rolling Loud lineup with the word cancelled across it. "My last felony conviction was 2007. I lost everything I ever loved and I’m STILL losing. So much so that “they” won’t allow me to perform at Rolling Loud NYC on Sunday. It’s unfair and unfortunate that my past, which I’ve dealt with legally and personally, continues to stigmatize me and my career as a recording artist. I’m at war with my past and the scars that they still leave on me everyday. I will continue to fight against biases and advocate for those facing this same issue. I’ll do what do what I plan to make it up to y’all. In the meantime, you can catch me on my Behind These Scars tour or another Rolling Loud in the future."
Don Q sounded off on Saturday (Oct. 12) about his set being cancelled via social media as well. Sharing the same notification as Cas, he captioned the post, "THIS IS MY HOMETOWN. I just found out I can’t perform at @RollingLoud tomorrow in my home city due to misinformation, I love my city and i never been in any gang activities or never had issues at any of my previous shows. I hope the city will wake up and see that cancelling me and my fellow NY artists isn’t the solution, we just love what we do and want to perform for our fans. We won’t give up."
Festival organizer Tariq Cherif seemed unhappy about the whole situation when addressing it on Twitter on Saturday. He revealed he will still pay the artists who are unable to perform due to the NYPD's request.
"I can’t speak on this much but I want everyone to know that we are still paying all of those artists full booking fees AND sending them offers for future Rolling Loud’s in other cities," he announced.
Others slated to perform at Rolling Loud include Travis Scott, YG, Pusha T, Gunna, DaBaby, Young Thug, Curren$y, DMX, Megan Thee Stallion, Young M.A, Kash Doll and more.
XXL has reached out to the NYPD, Rolling Loud and the camps for Casanova, Pop Smoke, Don Q, Sheff G and 22GZ for comment but have not heard back as of press time.