In a weekend where literally dozens of noise-making, popular hip-hop figures converged on two cities, the most anticipated performance ended almost as soon as it began. Lil Wayne’s headline outing at the A3C Music festival in Atlanta lasted for only two and half songs. The man with the number one album in the country, "Tha Carter V," was ushered off stage and into his waiting SUV after pandemonium broke out in the crowd. A reportedly violent incident occurred in the audience, causing thousands of concert-goers to stampede towards the exits.
According to some witnesses, at least two spectators were fighting when one got stabbed. Some witness say they saw a man a draw a gun and hoist in the air. Others say no one had a weapon. A source within the event security team told LiveXLive that they actually saw a man shoot a gun in the air. Wayne started his set at exactly 10pm with “Mr. Carter.” “Got Money” followed, and during song #3, “John,” the stampede occurred.
According to some witnesses, at least two spectators were fighting when one got stabbed. Some witness say they saw a man a draw a gun and hoist in the air. Others say no one had a weapon. A source within the event security team told LiveXLive that they actually saw a man shoot a gun in the air. Wayne started his set at exactly 10pm with “Mr. Carter.” “Got Money” followed, and during song #3, “John,” the stampede occurred.
A3C released a statement shortly after the chaos:
“Sadly, there was an altercation tonight that ended Lil Wayne’s performance,” the statement read. “We are still collecting information to determine exactly what happened and will provide follow up information as soon as we know more details. Please be assured that the law enforcement officers present have confirmed that there were no weapons involved. This was a very unfortunate way to end what had been an otherwise amazing week of music, friendships and connections. Thank you to everyone for your amazing support and positive energy all week. We love y’all.”
A spokesperson for the Atlanta police was unable to be reached.
“Sadly, there was an altercation tonight that ended Lil Wayne’s performance,” the statement read. “We are still collecting information to determine exactly what happened and will provide follow up information as soon as we know more details. Please be assured that the law enforcement officers present have confirmed that there were no weapons involved. This was a very unfortunate way to end what had been an otherwise amazing week of music, friendships and connections. Thank you to everyone for your amazing support and positive energy all week. We love y’all.”
A spokesperson for the Atlanta police was unable to be reached.
Soon after the performance, Wayne tweeted: “Hope everyone at A3C is safe."
“The “Greatest Rapper Alive”’ was very energetic and made sure to thank his fans for their support over the past two decades and he let everyone he would be nothing without the people on his side. He didn’t get to spend much time in Atlanta today, as he flew back to Miami after the A3C incident to make an appearance Club Liv. He had previously been in Miami during the taping of the BET Hip-Hop Awards where he received the coveted “I AM Hip-Hop” award. Bun B and DJ Khaled presented him the honor at the event, which also featured Cardi B, Lil Baby and Gunna, Lil Duval, T.I., YG, Lil Pump, Gucci Mane and Young M.A.
As for A3C today, M.A also performed as did Curren$y and the entire group of the Diplomats. Cam’ron, Jim Jones, and Freekey Zekey along with Juelz Santana. Santana has recently faced serious legal issues, having been arrested for bringing a loaded handgun to the New Jersey airport in March. Santana had been on house arrest for several months and had not been able to travel with his band of brothers while they’ve been touring. Juelz was onstage standing to the side with his wife Kimbella tonight with Wayne.
Stay tuned to LiveXLive for more coverage of this ongoing story, A3C and the BET Hip Hop Awards.