Sha Ek, 22Gz, and Ron Suno were removed from the Rolling Loud line-up at the request of the NYPD

Sha Ek, 22Gz, and Ron Suno were removed from the Rolling Loud line-up at the request of the NYPD. (Read More Here).

NYPD tells Rolling Loud to remove drill rappers from festival On Friday, Rolling Loud will officially be kicking off another festival of theirs, in New York City. This will be held at Citi Field, in Queens. Headliners for the weekend include Nicki Minaj, A$AP Rocky, and Future. Other stars that will be hitting the stage

Diamond “Bo” Brown, Suno’s manager, tells Rolling Stone that Rolling Loud organizers texted her the news on Thursday. “I was informed by Rolling Loud that NYPD is pulling us off the show. With no explanation,” she says via text. “How does a person who [has] no criminal record and no gang activities be denied to perform in his hometown after all his hard work, It’s crazy because he never even made a diss record.” Brown says festival organizers assured her that Suno would still be paid for the booking “and will hopefully be able to perform at later events.”

Reps for 22Gz and Sha Ek did not immediately reply to requests for comment but multiple reps confirmed to the Times that there were “at least three artists” removed from the bill one day before the festival is set to begin. It’s unclear if more artists have been removed from the festival. A rep for Rolling Loud declined to comment.

Suno fought with fellow Bronx rhymer Kay Flock backstage at last year’s Rolling Loud, but he has since expressed contrition for the incident. “I didn’t plan to fight at Rolling Loud,” he told media personality Gabe P of On The Radar in March of this year, adding that, “we makin’ money, we gotta feed our family, it’s all about the bigger picture.” Rolling Loud organizers saw fit to allow him and at least two other artists that opportunity, but the NYPD has intervened for unknown reasons.

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.”