Kendrick Lamar's Tour Smashes Records, Earns Over $110 Million

Kendrick Lamar's "Big Steppers Tour" has broken the record for the highest-grossing headline tour by a rap artist, according to Touring Data. The Live Nation-promoted tour, which covered 73 dates, generated $110,886,026 from 929,056 ticket sales.

.@kendricklamar's "The Big Steppers" is the highest-grossing tour by a rapper as headlining act in history with $110.9 million from 929,000 tickets sold in 73 shows.

— Touring Data (@touringdata) April 26, 2023

Lamar's tour grossed $69,255,230 from 492,283 tickets sold for 40 North American shows, $31,593,834 from 26 European shows with 349,401 attendees, and $10,036,962 from seven Oceania gigs that drew in 87,372 fans.

The figures show Lamar surpassing previous record-holders Drake and Future's "Summer Sixteen Tour" from 2016, which grossed $84.3 million from 54 shows, and Drake and Migos' "Aubrey & The Three Migos" run from 2018, which grossed $79 million from 43 shows, according to Pollstar. It also topped Kanye West and Jay-Z's "Watch The Throne Tour" from 2011/12, which earned $75.4 million from 57 concerts, and Lamar's own "The Damn Tour" from 2017/18, which earned $62.7 million.

Top Tours by Rappers:

#1 #KendrickLamar, "The Big Steppers"
#2 #Drake, "Aubrey & the Three Migos"
#3 #Drake & #Future, "Summer Sixteen"
#4 #KanyeWest & #JayZ, "Watch the Throne"
#5 #KendrickLamar, "Damn"
#6 #TravisScott, "Astroworld"

— Touring Data (@touringdata) April 26, 2023

The tour, presented by Rotation, Amazon Music's hip-hop and R&B brand, and produced by Live Nation, concluded on December 16, 2022, at Auckland's Spark Arena in New Zealand.

Lamar's "Big Steppers Tour" supported his fifth album, "Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers," and took him to arenas worldwide after he headlined Glastonbury Festival 2022 with Billie Eilish and Paul McCartney.

This summer, Lamar is scheduled to headline a series of festival dates across Europe, North America, and Asia, including Denmark's Roskilde, Lollapalooza Paris, and Poland's Open'er. In the US, he is set to headline Outside Lands in San Francisco and Life Is Beautiful in Las Vegas, while also performing at Bonnaroo in Tennessee and New York City's Governors Ball.

Watch: Rock the Bells Festival Announces 2023 Lineup With Epic Trailer

The Rock the Bells Festival announced its lineup for 2023 on Thursday, and it features some of the most iconic and trailblazing performers in the hip-hop industry.

Queen Latifah, Ludacris, De La Soul, Method Man & Redman, Swizz Beatz, Salt-n-Pepa, Big Daddy Kane, Rakim and Fabolous are just a smattering of the rap icons that will be on hand to perform at the event, which also promises to offer an immersive experience for hip-hop enthusiasts, highlighting the genre's impact on fashion, art and food.

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A post shared by ROCK THE BELLS (@rockthebells)

"We've made it a priority to honor hip-hop culture! This is a celebration for artists who paved the way and the legions of fans around the world throughout hip-hop's 50th-anniversary year," James Cuthbert, President of Rock The Bells, said. "The stage is set for the overdue acknowledgment and celebration of our culture and the fans who live and breathe it! This lineup represents icons and artists from various decades, cities, and styles, ensuring fans have the best hip-hop experience possible."

Along with the musical performances, the festival will also include a range of experiences, such as a tribute to the late Sean Price by Rock & Bernadette Price and a showcase of hip-hop pioneers' debut albums and hit singles, including the 35th anniversary of The Great Adventures of Slick Rick.

The festival takes place on August 11 at Forest Hills Stadium in New York City, marking the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip-hop. Fans can purchase presale VIP packages and general and reserved tickets for the festival through the festival's website.

To announce the lineup, Rock the Bells released a promotional trailer on Thursday featuring LL COOL J, Mike Epps, Salt-N-Pepa, Slick Rick, and Yo-Yo. The trailer is based on the seminal hip-hop-heist movie Set It Off and provides a sneak peek of what fans can expect from the festival.

Watch the full trailer below:

Former Fugees member Pras Michel Convicted in International Scandal

MiamiFilmFestival, via Wikimedia Commons

Grammy-winning rapper Pras Michel, a former member of the hip-hop supergroup Fugees, has been
convicted of 10 criminal counts related to an international conspiracy that reached the highest levels of the US government.

A jury convicted Grammy Award-winning rapper Pras Michel of The Fugees on criminal charges that he conspired with a Malaysian financier to orchestrate a series of foreign lobbying campaigns aimed at influencing the U.S. government under two presidents.
https://t.co/40svRQ9WKT

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) April 26, 2023

Michel was found guilty of charges that included conspiracy to defraud the US, witness tampering, and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.

Prosecutors accused Michel of participating in a conspiracy to help Malaysian businessman Jho Low and the Chinese government gain access to US officials, including former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. They alleged that Michel funneled over $800,000 of Low's money to Obama's campaign through straw donors in 2012 in exchange for a photo of himself with Obama.

Here is the Vlad interview that allegedly got Pras Under Investigation pic.twitter.com/XMLowLzR4i

— O.T.G (@365OTG) April 24, 2023

While Michel testified that he never used the money at Low's direction, in 2017, prosecutors claimed that Low again turned to Michel when investigations into Low's alleged role in embezzling billions of dollars from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund began to ramp up. They alleged that Low directed over $100 million to Michel to help push the US government, including Trump, to drop its investigation into Low.

Prosecutors also accused Michel of advocating for the extradition of a Chinese dissident, Guo Wengui, on behalf of the Chinese government. Michel denied the allegations, claiming that he only tried to help Low find an attorney in the US and told authorities about Guo because he thought he was a criminal. He also claimed that the $100 million was for a media business he was starting and wasn't from Low.

Michel could face up to 20 years in prison, although no sentencing date has been set. During the trial, he sat stoically as each count came down on Wednesday and declined to comment to reporters outside the courthouse. His attorney, David Kenner, expressed disappointment about the verdicts but remained confident that their mistrial motions would work out in their favor.

"If we do move to a sentencing hearing, I remain very confident we will certainly appeal this case," Kenner said. "This is not over."