Bobby Shmurda has called off his highly anticipated 2025 “Still Alive” Tour, leaving fans stunned and sparking a public feud with his booking team. The tour, set to run from May 15 to June 19, 2025, across 19 cities including Los Angeles, Houston, Boston, and Washington D.C., was canceled due to staggeringly low ticket sales—averaging just 10 tickets per city, according to his booking agent, Philip Stengel.
Shmurda, whose real name is Ackquille Pollard, took to Instagram to apologize to his fans, accepting full responsibility for the tour’s failure.
“I let y’all down, and I’m sorry,”
he wrote, promising to make it up to supporters. But the apology quickly turned into a blame game as Shmurda pointed fingers at Stengel of Halo Touring and Sergio Patillo of Oakstreet Media, accusing them of botching the tour’s promotion. Leaked text messages, shared by Shmurda, revealed heated arguments with his agents, escalating the drama and drawing attention across social media.
On X, fans and critics alike expressed shock at the dismal ticket numbers. One user, @jaytothelo, posted,
“Bobby Shmurda’s tour canceled over 10 tickets per city? That’s wild!”
Others cracked jokes, while some sympathized, noting the challenges of rebuilding a career after prison. Data shared by Stengel painted an even bleaker picture: only five tickets sold in Washington D.C., and zero in Hampton, Virginia, and Denver, Colorado.
“This isn’t about promotion—it’s about demand,”
Stengel said on Instagram, defending his work and urging Shmurda to face the numbers.
Stengel, a veteran agent, didn’t hold back. He claimed Shmurda ignored advice to reschedule the tour and instead went public with accusations, even hurling insults and threats.
“The music business is about execution,”
Stengel said.
“Ten tickets a show isn’t sustainable for any artist.”
He backed his argument with screenshots of the abysmal sales, leaving little room for debate.
Shmurda’s triumph in 2014 with “Hot Boy” and viral hit “Shmoney Dance” catapulted him into the mainstream. Things slowed following a six-year prison sentence from 2014 to 2021 for conspiracy, possession of weapons, and reckless endangerment. Since being released, Shmurda has struggled to get back to where he was, switching to independent releases after parting ways with Epic Records in 2022. Releases like Bodboy and ShmurdaGotCash still showed promise, but the aborted tour might indicate the decline in his fandom.
A post from X.
The rapper’s struggles extend beyond ticket sales. In 2024, a London nightclub performance ended in chaos when Shmurda, unpaid for extra songs, spat on a patron and was kicked out. He later apologized but faced backlash. A public spat with Rick Ross over a concert lineup removal added to his woes, as did financial disputes with his former manager and claims of being blackballed by major labels. Shmurda has also spoken about the grind of going independent, saying,
“I make more money now, but it’s a lot harder without label support.”
The tour’s collapse has sparked broader conversations about the music industry’s challenges, especially for independent artists. Without the backing of a major label, promotion, venue choices, and ticket pricing fall squarely on the artist and their team. Shmurda’s ambitious 19-city tour may have overestimated his current draw, particularly in large venues where low sales are glaring. Fans on X speculated about high ticket prices or lack of new hits as possible factors, but the leaked texts suggest Shmurda felt his agents didn’t do enough to spread the word.
