Busta Rhymes cancels 2024 Blockbusta tour less than a week before launch
Rapper Busta Rhymes appears to have scrapped the entirety of his Blockbusta 2024 tour, which was set to kick off in San Francisco on March 13.
All 24 dates on the “I Know What You Want” rapper’s upcoming outing were listed as canceled Friday on the Ticketmaster website and Rhymes’ official website, including his March 15 show at the Hollywood Palladium and a March 16 stop at the House of Blues in Anaheim. Shows in San Diego and Chicago were listed on Rhymes’ official website, but tickets were not available.
The Brooklyn rapper brought down the house during the Grammy Awards’ 50th anniversary of hip-hop celebration.
“Unfortunately, the Event Organizer has had to cancel your event,” a notice on the Ticketmaster website read Friday. “No action is required to obtain a refund. It will be processed to the original method of payment used at time of purchase, once funds are received from the Event Organizer, which is usually completed within 30 days.”
No reason was given for the change, and representatives for the “Break Ya Neck” rapper, his label, Epic Records, and Live Nation did not immediately respond Friday to The Times’ requests for comment.
Busta Rhymes told Men’s Health that he ‘was having a really difficult time breathing’ during an ‘intimate’ time with his ex. He has since lost 100 pounds.
However, the 51-year-old emcee is still slated to headline his non-tour stop at Yaamava’ Resort & Casino at San Manuel on April 27. Rhymes last performed on Feb. 1 when he opened the Black Music Collective’s honors event in Los Angeles during the lead-up to the Grammy Awards.
Co-producer Live Nation announced Rhymes’ North American tour in November, marking the spitfire rapper’s first headlining run in support of his 11th studio album, “Blockbusta,” released in 2023. The tour was set to take place over five weeks before ending with Rhymes’ Brooklyn homecoming on April 21.
“It maintains his momentum from a triumphant turn supporting 50 Cent this year on the historic sold-out global Final Lap Tour. As always, expect a supernova-level set night after night from Busta as he delivers earth-shaking classics and choice cuts from ‘BLOCKBUSTA!’” Live Nation said in the November announcement.
Live Nation reports that concert attendance was up 20% in 2023 — the year of Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour and Taylor Swift’s Eras tour.
Although Rhymes has not yet addressed the cancellation, he took to Instagram Thursday to announce a new album from Flipmode Squad, the hip-hop collective he led from the 1990s to the early 2000s. Rhymes appeared to be in a recording studio in the video announcement and played a snippet from the album, which arrives “26 years later.” It’s unclear which artists will appear on the new project, but Rhymes was at various times joined in the collective by Rampage, Spliff Starr, Baby Sham, Rah Digga and Meka.
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