“Karma gon’ catch up, the album sales won’t.”
—Joey Bada$$, re: Troy Ave
As prescient as Joey may appear with his recent rhymes about fellow Brooklynite Troy Ave, he could probably care less—especially because the consequences of last week’s Irving Plaza shooting are affecting his and several other rappers’ livelihood.
Concert promoter Live Nation has announced that upcoming Irving Plaza and Gramercy Theatre shows featuring Joey, Mac Miller, Vince Staples, and YG have been canceled in the wake of a violent incident in Irving Plaza which left three people shot and one person, 33-year-old Ronald “BSB Banga” Mcphatter, dead.
Joey took to Twitter last night to accuse the NYPD of canceling his show, though their involvement—if any—is unclear. The cancellations aren’t just affecting hip hop, as Rolling Stone reported Appetite For Destruction had their June 3 concert canceled.
A Live Nation rep told Rolling Stone, “In light of last week’s tragic event, we are acting with an overabundance of caution and coordinating a going-forward strategy with the New York Police Department that may also include a curfew. Because these discussions with New York Police Department are ongoing, we will be postponing a few of our upcoming shows.”
Even when booking resumes, it will be interesting to see if there will be any restrictions on which hip-hop artists perform at Irving Plaza or Gramercy Theater.
It’s a cruel irony that as much as Troy Ave made it his mission statement to “restore the feeling” of New York hip-hop, he’s at the center of an incident that threatens to irrevocably hinder it.
