22Gz and Sha Ek. Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos by Cindy Ord/WireImage and Johnny Nunez/WireImage
Three local drill rappers (22Gz, Sha Ek, and Ron Suno) will no longer perform at Rolling Loud New York this weekend — a decision reportedly made by the New York Police Department, according to New York Times. Vulture has reached out to Rolling Loud New York and the NYPD for comment.
22Gz, a 24-year-old rapper from Brooklyn, was among a group of artists removed from the 2019 Rolling Loud New York lineup under similar circumstances. Earlier this year, ahead of his set at Hot 97’s Summer Jam, police arrested 22Gz outside the festival on attempted-murder charges stemming from a March nightclub shooting; he is currently out on bail.
Suno, a 22-year-old from the Bronx, got in a fight at last year’s Rolling Loud New York, but no charges were filed. His manager told the Times, “How can a person who has no criminal record and no gang ties — the kid never even made a diss record — be denied to perform in his hometown after all his hard work?”
A manager for Ek, a 19-year-old from the Bronx, emphasized to the Times that the rapper did not have a criminal record that would merit dropping him from the festival.
The news comes as New York mayor Eric Adams has targeted drill rap as an unfounded source of violence in the city. 22Gz disputed that notion in an interview with New York earlier this year. “I’m not going to say drill wasn’t made for dissing, but it wasn’t made for violence,” he said. “It’s just another route for the ghetto — for us in New York City — to speak how we want to talk, and let the world know how we feel, without sounding like everybody else.”
