Rolling Loud got off to a rocky start on Friday in Miami when headliner Kid Cudi left the stage mid-set after being bombarded by items thrown by audience members, while Kanye West made a brief appearance during the ‘ performance by Lil Durk despite leaving the lineup less than a week earlier.
Footage posted on social media initially showed Cudi being hit in the face with what appears to be a water bottle while performing. The “Day ‘n’ Nite” rapper is later shown threatening the audience with cutting off his set due to the behavior. “I’m going to fuck off. If you 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 mess with me.” A water bottle is subsequently thrown at the rapper, prompting Cudi to drop his microphone and exit the stage as audience members began chanting West’s name. (The individual who threw the last water bottle later bragged about the act on Twitter.)
“Fans” actually hit Kid Cudi in the face with a bottle. @RollingLoud you 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 the Donda 2 rapper pulled out of the festival. (Fans had 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 banned Scott from performing because of his association with a fatal crowd surge at his Astroworld festival last year.)
However, in true Ye fashion, West still attended the festival, making a surprise onstage cameo with Lil Durk while wearing a full face mask. West performed a segment of his The Life of Pablo song “Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1” — a song, fans pointed out, that features Cudi’s vocals.
Kanye West just came out during Lil Durk’s Rolling Loud set 👀pic.twitter.com/8NkEaa92US
— Kurrco (@Kurrco) July 23, 2022
The move appeared to be deliberate, as the two rappers had a public feud 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 at Donda because he’s friends with you know who,” West wrote in a post on ‘Instagram now deleted.
Cudi responded by calling West a “dinosaur” in response to the post, before accusing West of lying in a series of tweets. “God open the door for the wrong people to walk out of your life,” he wrote on Twitter.