Ye To Perform With Drake During First Stadium Concert In Half A Decade
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, and fellow rapper Drake have set aside their differences for a benefit concert to advocate for a Chicago gang leader whose prison sentence has led to calls for prison and sentencing reform.
"I believe this event will not only bring awareness to our cause but prove to people everywhere how much more we can accomplish when we lay our pride aside and come together," Ye said.
The concert was facilitated by music executive and promoter J Prince who helped give Drake his start by introducing him to Lil Wayne who subsequently signed him to his record label Young Money Entertainment in 2009.
The "Free Larry Hoover Benefit Concert" at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Dec. 9 would be Drake's first performance since Astroworld and Ye's first stadium performance in five years.
Hoover, the co-founder of the Chicago gang Gangster Disciples, was convicted for ordering the 1973 killing of 19-year-old neighborhood drug dealer William "Pooky" Young. While serving his 150-200 year sentence for the killing of Young, Hoover was convicted of federal drug conspiracy, extortion and continuing to engage in a criminal enterprise and sentenced to six life sentences.
"With Ye, Drake, and J Prince united to advocate for my father's release, we can take our plea for redemption worldwide and show that we are truly stronger together on behalf of any and everyone with a loved one wrongly or unjustly incarcerated," said Larry Hoover Jr., a son of the inmate.
Tickets for the concert will go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday, Nov. 22.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)