Here we go again. Following on from the news last week that national hip hop festival Supafest had neglected to actually book Missy Elliott despite advertising her on the bill, comes another story of a hip hop tour gone wrong.

Hardcore American rapper DMX has this morning strongly denied he is booked to tour Australia, despite promoters Able Touring promoting a headline tour around the country, and tickets already being sold on Ticketek for $140 a pop.

DMX, who last toured Australia in 2006 and is supposedly playing TRAK in Melbourne and the Luna Park Big Top in Sydney, is furious at the Australian promoters who are selling tickets to the ironically named the ‘Undisputed Tour’, angrily jumping on Twitter and tweeting to fans:


To my AUSTRALIAN fans ,I have not been booked for any show in Australia.. My mgmt and myself know NOTHING about these dates!
Apr 20 via Twitter for iPhone Favorite Retweet Reply

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The only person that handles my business is my manager @JasonJMikeMgmt !! Anyone else is full of SHIT!! #UNDISPUTED JUNE 26, 2012 !
Apr 20 via Twitter for iPhone Favorite Retweet Reply

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The story mirrors a number of hip hop tour failures, including the Supafest meltdown that led to Missy Elliott’s manager issuing a statement saying “It is unfortunate when this happens as this dishonest behavior hurts everyone involved. It not only damages the reputation of the artist, but most importantly it disappoints the fans who spend their hard earned money on tickets expecting to see the artist.”

It’s also similar to the Ice Cube tour controversy last year when the rapper publicly denied he was booked to play a national tour here in Australia. The dispute in the end turned out to be who actually represented Ice Cube.

Promoters White Eagle Entertainment insisted they had spoken with a group claiming to represent the rapper, and that after speaking to his team again the shows would be going ahead as planned. Of course they didn’t, Ice Cube never showed, and a few months later an official Ice Cube tour was announced.

DMX himself isn’t a stranger to controversy either. Last year he announced he was speaking to his lawyers about suing the Phoenix Police Department for ‘harassment’ after he was arrested for doing 102mph in a 60mph zone.

When the cops checked his driving records they discovered he was driving while his license had been revoked. The arrest came just a few weeks after the controversial rapper had been released from the slammer for violating his probation, on top of clocking up a whopping six arrests in the past three years.

We’ve reached out to Able Touring for comment, but we are yet to hear back. Our advice, don’t buy tickets.

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