Music

Danny Brown gives up on coming to Canada

by Tyler Munro

via Facebook

Danny Brown has given up on playing in Canada, and we honestly can’t blame him. On Twitter, Brown wrote “it’s a wrap on Canada” after being denied at the border for the second time in the last eleven months. The first such instance happened in October 2012, when Brown’s tour with A$AP Rocky and ScHoolboy Q got held up on its way into Toronto. While Q and Rocky kind of brought it on themselves, Brown kept his cool and seemed legitimately embarrassed when he couldn’t get it. According to reports, the border guards laughed when the MCs were denied.

Later that month Brown decided to skip a date on that same tour in Vancouver, tweeting that he’d rather save himself the embarrassment of being turned away at the border. “Nxt time fasho tho, I promise,” he tweeted to fans.

Today’s proposed show in Calgary was that next time. It didn’t happen, and now Canadian fans might be shit out of luck.

Do you know what else this is? Bullshit.

Danny Brown’s pretty vocal about his drug use, and in his past he sold drugs, most notably after some time in jail back in 2007, but he hasn’t been booked since. Do you know who has? Snoop Dogg. Lil Wayne. 2 Chainz. And they’ve all played Canada more than a few times the last few years.

The difference here is puzzling. There are pretty powerful rumours that greasy handed promoters have a hand in getting some of these more troubled artists across the country, but how is that fair? Danny Brown seems to have really tired to go by this properly, saying that he did the paperwork and paid the money. He’s paid his dues as far as his legal troubles go. You can point out his criminal past and how vocal he is about his drug use, but what separates that from Wiz Khalifa tossing joints into crowds of teenagers while he puffs away on blunts bigger than his legs on stage.

In the end, this is Canada doing what it does best—stifling artists. It’s right in line with new charges that seem to exist only to bankrupt smaller venues, and for Canadian fans its a likely sign of the times. More than that, it’s a reason to get mad. You don’t have to like Danny Brown to realize that this is getting ridiculous.

Canadian fans have been waiting to see Danny Brown for years. His dates with Childish Gambino were cancelled after Donald Glover broke his leg and we already know what happened with A$AP. It looks like we’ll have to make the trek south if we ever want to see Danny Brown do his thing, and that’s a bloody shame.