This year’s Rock The Bells appeared as though it was going to be one of the greatest shows in its history. In the beginning, the West coast experienced the two-day festival which fused together hip-hop from the present and past. Between appearances from Kid Cudi, Jurassic 5, Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Ab-Soul, Jay Rock and an unforgettable performance from the Wu-Tang Clan along with the hologram of Ol’ Dirty Bastard, the East coast was hype and ready for a festival of epic proportions.
However, due to poor ticket sales, the highly-anticipated festival cancelled the event two days before their shows in Washington, D.C and New Jersey. “It wasn’t the cost of the holograms that killed Rock the Bells, or anything like that,” explained Guerilla Union founder Chang Weisberg in a recent interview where he reaches out to fans directly about the cancellation.
“The bigger reasons, the macro-version,” Weisberg said, “there were a lot of great shows that were out touring in our same time period. That could be a factor. The fact that Jay Z was on sale, the fact that Kanye was on sale, the fact that Drake was on sale. There were just a lot of great hip-hop shows, and I wish all of them well. I think competition increases the market, and I’m happy that all these acts can be touring, and ultimately, maybe, that was one of the issues.”
Weisberg guarantees that Rock The Bells hasn’t died just yet. The founder claims they will be hitting the drawing board to come up with an even better show next year and hints that the headliner has already been confirmed. Watch the full interview here.