After a weekend of thinking about the Kid Cudi incident that occurred at Rolling Loud Miami, I have concluded that some fans are assholes. That’s something I already knew, but now I feel even more sure about it than ever.
You probably saw what happened during Kid Cudi’s set at Rolling Loud Miami on Friday night. During his performance, the Cleveland rapper can be seen singing, “REVOFEV” from his 2010 album Man On the Moon, Vol. II. Then out of nowhere, a bottle was thrown from the crowd and hit him square in the face.
Cudi is one to make his feelings known, so as a result, he told the crowd, “Yo, I will walk off this stage if y’all throw one more fucking thing up here, I will leave, I will leave right now.”
He continued, “Throw one more fucking thing on this stage and I will walk off, I’m not fucking playing. I’m not fucking playing, you will ruin it for everybody I will fucking leave. If I get hit with one more fucking thing, if I see one more fucking thing on this fucking stage, I’m leaving. Don’t fuck with me!”
As Cudi finishes talking, a dumbass from the crowd throws something on the stage and the rapper immediately walks off, ruining it for everyone else.
Many fans concluded that some in the crowd were upset that Kanye pulled out of the festival and Cudi was named as the replacement. Some of the Kanye fans just may not like Cudi since he tweeted earlier this year, “I am not cool w that man,” referring to Kanye.
Oftentimes, I’m not one to be sympathetic to millionaire artists. But in this case, I’ll make an exception.
Some fans feel that because they paid for a ticket, they have the authority to do whatever they want and not take into consideration the other fans around them or the well-being of the artist. People pay a lot of money to see artists perform, and although Kanye was replaced by Cudi, I guarantee there were thousands of fans there just to see that one set.
It was all ruined because one “fan” thought it would be “funny” to throw something at Cudi. Especially since there’s almost no way that a “fan” in the crowd would throw something if he saw Cudi outside the venue. He’d probably get his ass kicked by his security or the rapper himself.
This reminds me of Drake’s set at Tyler, the Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw festival. He was booed off stage because people in the crowd were expecting Frank Ocean to make a surprise performance, but instead, they got Drizzy, the most popular rapper in the world. Most people would kill to see Drake perform, but privileged fans concocted an idea in their head and when they didn’t get it, they responded negatively.
Yes, part of the reason an artist like Cudi or Drake is successful is that they have fans who support and buy their music. But artists do not owe us their time; they choose to give it to us. There needs to be respect shown on both sides, and fans in both instances showed none.