Hip-hop group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony were denied entry into Canada early Wednesday morning (January 30), as they prepared to head on a sold out tour through the country, BallerStatus.com learned. The group said they were told their entry into Canada was denied by Customs officials because their music was "too violent," which they cannot understand.
"We never had a problem going over there, but all of the sudden, they talking the music is too violent," Krayzie Bone told BallerStatus.com. "I'm like 'Man, that's crazy because we doing the same music we've done every time we came over there and nothing never happened.'"
The group was scheduled to leave for Canada Wednesday morning for five sold out dates -- including stops in Calgary, Vancouver and Winnipeg -- but got the bad news from the tour's promoter just before they were preparing to leave.
"We was supposed to leave this morning and the promoter told us he was having trouble getting us cleared to enter the country," explained Krayzie. "We was on stand by, and he was gonna let us know what was going on this morning at 8 a.m. He said he went to the Councilor and everything, and they was like 'We was high risk of coming over there,' 'they didn't wanna take the risk,' 'they didn't want it on their hands if something happened,' and everything."
The rapper said that the group was very surprised when they heard the news, mainly because they had toured there just last year and several times in the past without incident, and don't understand why this time is any different.
"We was just over there last year... around the same time last year," he said, "and we didn't have no problem whatsoever getting through the Customs or nothing."
While Krayzie admits that fights had broken out between concertgoers at their shows in the past, he insisted the incidents were isolated and had nothing to do with Bone or their music. "We never really had nothing major at all, happen at our concerts. No riots, nobody getting shot or killed, or nothing like that," Krayzie said.
Although they are still confused about the situation, Krayzie speculated as to why Canada is strict in letting rappers through the border. One reason he had was the country's rising gang problem, which officials confirmed with the group.
"I hear a lot of people is having problems with Canada now. They did mention that they have a rising gang problem on they hands out there in Canada, so that might be one of the reasons," Krayzie explained.
The group's Canadian tour would have been in support of latest album, T.H.U.G.S., which was released through Ruthless Records; their last major label project, Strength & Loyalty; and their DVD film "I Tried."
Despite the Canada dates being canceled, the group is slated to continue on the U.S. leg of the tour, which kicks off in Portland, Oregon on February 16, hitting cities such as Los Angeles, Dallas, New York and Atlanta, before wrapping things up in Montgomery, Alabama on June 14.
The group is upset that their Canadian fans aren't able to catch their shows though. "We still got a very strong fan base. Our fans been following us for a very long time. It's unfortunate that our sold out shows in Canada were canceled, because our fans stay loyal to us and we want to stay loyal to them," Krayzie said.
For a complete list of U.S. tour dates, visit BoneThugsNHarmony.com.
Hip Hop News
