Buku Music + Art Project is an annual event held in New Orleans that signifies one of the earliest entries into the festival season, along with Okeechobee in Florida and Air + Style in Los Angeles. But things did not go exactly as planned in the Big Easy this weekend. For one, headliner SZA didn’t make it far into her set before an injury forced her to exit early. And later in the weekend, another one of its biggest acts didn’t even make it to the stage.
Lil Uzi Vert, who has ascended to headliner status on the back of his excellent 2017, canceled his appearance at the event, and organizer’s do not appear to be very happy about it. According to a message posted for everyone at the festival to see, Uzi canceled for “no reason,” never even getting on a plane to travel from Philadelphia to New Orleans. Buku also said they would donate part of Uzi’s fee to charity, but they couldn’t mask their inner rage, even letting a typo fly in a fit of passion.
Lil Uzi Vert has not released a comment or apology for the cancelation. Even with all of these unplanned bumps in the road, Buku was a sellout this year. The event also featured appearances from Porter Robinson’s Virtual Self, Migos, and Bassnectar.
