Rolling Loud got off to a rocky start on Friday in Miami, as headliner Kid Cudi left the stage midway through after being bombarded by objects thrown from the crowd, while Kanye West made a brief appearance during Lil Durk’s performance, despite being dropped from the lineup for less than a week earlier.
Footage posted on social media initially showed Cudi being hit in the face with what appeared to be a water bottle while performing. The “Day ‘n’ Nite” rapper was later shown threatening the crowd to cut his set short due to his behavior. “I’m going to go the hell away. If they hit me with one more fucking thing—if I see one more fucking thing on this fucking stage, I’m leaving,” he says. “Don’t fuck with me.” A water bottle is subsequently thrown at the rapper, prompting Cudi to drop his microphone and exit the stage as the crowd begins chanting West’s name. (The person who threw the last water bottle later bragged about the act on Twitter.)
The “fans” really hit Kid Cudi’S FACE with a bottle. @RollingLoud you guys need to condemn these “fans” or make a statement because your night was terrible. (via @Kurrco) pic.twitter.com/xA240lNslV
— WeTalkMusic 🎧 (@We_Talk_Music) July 23, 2022
Cudi, somewhat controversially, was chosen to replace West after rapper Donda 2 pulled out of the festival. (Fans pressured Rolling Loud organizers to replace West with Travis Scott, leading to a bizarre incident in which one of the festival’s co-founders falsely claimed that the venue was banning Scott from performing due to his association with fatal crowd surges at his festival Astroworld last year.)
Yet, in true Ye fashion, West attended the festival anyway, making a surprise cameo on stage with Lil Durk while wearing a full-face mask. West performed part of his The Life of Pablo song “Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1” — a song fans note features vocals from Cudi.
Kanye West just walked out during Lil Durk’s Rolling Loud set 👀pic.twitter.com/8NkEaa92US
— Kurrco (@Kurrco) July 23, 2022
The move appeared to be intentional, as the two rappers had a public spat in February when West criticized Cudi for being friends with Pete Davidson. (The former Saturday Night Live star is currently dating West’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian.) “Just so everyone knows Cudi won’t be on Donda because he’s friends with you know who,” West wrote in a now-deleted post on Instagram.
Cudi responded by calling West a “dinosaur” in response to the post, before later accusing West of lying in a series of tweets. “God opens the door for the wrong people to leave your life,” he wrote on Twitter.
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