Rod Wave has slammed concert ticket prices amidst his ongoing lawsuit with a touring company over cutting his latest tour short.
In an interview with The Joe Budden Podcast, the rapper was asked about his $27 million lawsuit with Grizzly Touring, who is accusing Rod Wave of owing them funds as a result of cutting his tour short. In response, Wave spoke in depth about his issues with touring and ticketing companies and ticket resellers in general.
“The tour ticket sh– so crazy because I could tell the people, ‘Hey, I want to sell this ticket for $55, $85.’ They could do whatever the f— they want to do with it — motherf—er gone be 300,” Rod at the 31:40 mark. “I want this sh– to be affordable for people. … I can’t control that.”
He says that companies that set ticket prices and ticket resellers are “with the bullsh–.”
“That’s why I’m taking this step to gain as much control over this side of my career as I can,” Rod Wave said. “Like on the touring side ‘cause I built this sh– up from the ground. I remember going to Oakland, California, with 80 people at my concert in 2018, 2019. To fast-forward — 18,000.”
He continued, “I built this sh– up from the ground. So I can’t just put this sh– in your hands, man, and let you do it. You don’t give a f— about these people. You ain’t never even heard my song. You just want to make the money. You see the numbers, right? You don’t give a f—. You putting random ass people on my tour ‘cause the numbers they doing and this sh– don’t even make sense.”
Rod then went on to explain that last month he was in the process of launching his own touring company called Mainstay Touring, and said he understood why he was being sued because of this move.
“That why when you start doing sh– like this, a lawsuit…the consumer may say, ‘Oh damn, that’s a L,’ or ‘That’s a bad thing,’ but to me, I understand it,” he explained. “They better sue…It better be a war. It should be a war. You talking about $30 and $40 and $50 million at a time that these folks taking home. So, yeah, it should be a war. It better be. It ain’t right if it ain’t one.”
In a previous interview with Billboard, Rod Wave had said his most recent tour “had to get taken down because of the routing,” which he credited as the reason why he wanted to be “more hands-on” with touring.
Listen to the full interview below.