Ye dropped out of yet another music festival and in his place, Kid Cudi will now headline the first night of Rolling Loud Miami 2022, as announced by the hip-hop festival yesterday.
Just five days before his expected performance on July 22, Rolling Loud shared the news of Kanye’s last-minute exit, referencing “circumstances outside of our control.” In the Instagram comments, Tariq Cherif, the co-founder and co-CEO of Rolling Loud, added that Kanye “wasn’t having it” when he tried to persuade him to stay and that another issue came up when the venue didn’t allow Travis Scott “because of astroworld deaths.”
With Ye's official withdrawal, Cudi, headlining alongside Future and Kendrick Lamar on the other two nights, is a controversial replacement. Though the two collaborated on the 2018 album Kids See Ghosts, Cudi’s biggest critic may be Ye himself. Their rocky relationship dates back to a Twitter feud in 2016, and they recently got into public drama in February while Ye was on his Instagram tirade against Pete Davidson.
In a since-deleted post, referencing Cudi and Davidson’s friendship, Kanye wrote that Cudi “will not be on Donda because he’s friends with you know who,” according to Pitchfork. Cudi was quick to hit back, replying, “Too bad I don’t wanna be on ur album u fuckin dinosaur hahaha 🤣.” The saga continued with Cudi taking to Twitter to call Ye out. This prompted Ye (in more now-deleted Instagram posts) to call Cudi a back-stabber and share memes of edited Marvel posters, one of which featured Cudi with Davidson against Ye.
\u201cWe talked weeks ago about this. You\u2019re whack for flipping the script and posting this lie just for a look on the internet. You ain\u2019t no friend. BYE\u201d— The Chosen One : I \ud83d\udc96 YOU FRESHIE 4EVER (@The Chosen One : I \ud83d\udc96 YOU FRESHIE 4EVER) 1644703156
Though for less personal reasons, some fans were equally disillusioned by the announcement and shared their disappointment on Twitter.
\u201cMe at Kid Cudi\u2019s rolling loud set after I paid to see Kanye\u201d— f*zzii (@f*zzii) 1658106622
\u201cCudi for Kanye is the worst replacement the music industry has ever seen\u201d— Debating Hip-Hop / Future AOTY (@Debating Hip-Hop / Future AOTY) 1658085790
\u201cKanye West is both my favorite and least favorite music artist. @RollingLoud @kanyewest\u201d— truman (@truman) 1658106731
While many hoped to see Kanye there, they weren’t necessarily expecting it. Just weeks before Coachella 2022, Ye notoriously dropped out of a headlining spot. He was then sued by a production and design firm that claimed he failed to pay them for their work in the aftermath, according to Pitchfork. Nonetheless, back when they announced Ye on April 15, Rolling Loud was indignant that he would stay in the lineup, replying to doubtful fans on Twitter.
\u201c@MYDADDIPPED and when he does, you're going to be home mad af\u201d— Rolling Loud (@Rolling Loud) 1650042886
Needless to say, the tweet did not age well. With Ye ditching Coachella and now Rolling Loud Miami, it begs the question of why music festivals keep taking him back.
Photo via Getty/ Johnny Nunez/ WireImage