Djakarta Warehouse Project (DWP) has become famous as one of the biggest dance and electronic music festivals in all of Asia. An event organizer in China allegedly tried to illegally use the DWP brand to promote their own music festival and even got famous rapper Nicki Minaj to come to Shanghai under false pretenses leading to her canceled performance and a huge debacle.
Minaj, famous for global hits like Chun-Li and, more recently, Barbie Dreams, was scheduled to perform a 90-minute set in exchange for a whopping $3 million paycheck on Sunday at an event called the DWP China Festival in Shanghai, which also promised performances by the likes of DJ Snake and “Despacito” singer Luis Fonsi.
The problem is, Indonesia-based event organizer Ismaya Live, the sole owner of the DWP brand, said they had nothing to do with the festival in Shanghai last weekend. In an official statement released yesterday, Ismaya Live said they had no association with the fraudulent Shanghai festival, which used the DWP name without their authorization.
As reported by Bandwagon Asia, Ismaya Live’s actual festival in Shanghai, the Road To DWPX – China series, is scheduled for November 24-30 to serve as a warm up to the tenth edition of the DWP which will take place in Bali in December.
Sadly for Minaj, she only found out about the chaos upon landing in Shanghai. The Trinidadian-born American rapper then refused to perform after finding out the festival was a scam.
However, the so-called fake festival reportedly went on as scheduled with other performances. But festival goers who paid up to 3000 yuan (US$420) to see Minaj had to wait for over two hours before being told by organizers that the cancellation was caused by sound issues and problems with the rapper’s voice.
As a result, the festival’s organizers blamed Minaj, saying she “didn’t come on time”, and claimed to have negotiated with her for two hours.
Nicki herself didn’t issue any official statements regarding the fake festival, but she was seen in a fan video saying, “I’ll be back for my real fans in Shanghai with a better partner.”
Thank u Nicki! We are sooo sorry for what happened today and we love u soooo much! Plz come to Shanghai next time PLZ! @NICKIMINAJ pic.twitter.com/KPnzR4Id41
— itskarly (@nopekarly) November 18, 2018
Ismaya Live will hold the 10th edition and anniversary of DWP in Bali on December 7-9, with a lineup boasting global music icons such as The Weeknd, Armin van Buuren, and DJ Snake (for real, this time).
