DaBaby made his return to Rolling Loud three months following his controversial rant in Miami, thanks to his presumed mentor 50 Cent.
Fans of the North Carolina rapper were in for a special treat on Thursday, Oct. 28, when Fif brought the “Suge” rapper out to perform on Day 1 of the festival’s New York installment at Citi Field in Queens — although he wasn’t a part of the official lineup.
TMZ reported that unidentified source say Rolling Loud organizers approved DaBaby’s involvement despite his prior flap, although his portion of the performance was allegedly cut from the livestream of the event.
Fif has shown DaBaby tons support in the weeks following the scandal. During an interview with E! News, the “Power” creator seemed confident that the “BOP” emcee would eventually land back in the media’s good graces.
“Like, they didn’t notify him that he’s turning into a superstar,” Fif said at the time. “There’s no artist development. There’s no strong A&R in this, definitely no media training. Remember they canceled Chris Brown like five or six times.”
Social media comments about the guest appearance also seemed to be mostly positive, although at least one was subtly barbed. “Dababy performed at rolling loud without saying homophobic statements for no reason, clearly he’s improving,” wrote one Twitter user.
Another person commented, “Even tho said some ignant ass sh-t at Rolling Loud, DaBaby make sum quality gym music.”
Still, DaBaby doesn’t appear to be out of the woods with everyone just yet. “The tweet that Boosie just posted about Lil Nas is 1000x more harmful and disrespectful than anything DaBaby said at Rolling Loud.” They added, “I want him to truly prove he cares about the LGBTQ+ community and stand up for Nas and denounce Boosie’s BS.”
As previously reported, the 29-year-old, whose real name is Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, went on a bizarre and misinformed rant about HIV/AIDS during his July set. “If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases, that’ll make you die in two to three weeks, then put your cellphone lighter up,” he said during his performance.
That backlash included mounting criticisms on social media, loss of several future performance bookings and brand partnerships. The “ROCKSTAR” rapper ultimately offered up multiple apologies and met with various members of the LGBTQ community for a discussion around his comments.
