Rapper Sidhu Moose Wala gunned down ahead of his Canadian summer tour & More Trending News

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Local followers joined others world wide in shock on the dying of Punjabi-language rapper Sidhu Moose Wala, who had a near-iconic following in numerous Canadian cities, however particularly in Surrey with its giant South Asian inhabitants.

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Moose Wala, whose scheduled live performance on the PNE this summer had just lately raised safety considerations, has been shot and killed in India, based on studies in Indian media.

“He might be gone, but his legacy is alive in the scores of artists that were inspired by his Punjabi-rap style. The contemporary Punjabi music milieu has deep roots in Canada. AP Dhillon, Byg Byrd, Gurinder Gil, like Sidhu Moose Wala, have global recognition and they’re all creating their music right here in Canada. This isn’t just a loss for Punjabis, it’s a loss for Canadians,” mentioned Gulzar Nanda, an entrepreneur and present chair of the Punjabi Market Regeneration Collective.

Moose Wala was anticipated to play the Pacific Coliseum on July 23, however ticket gross sales have been delayed final week as a result of of police considerations concerning the safety dangers concerned.

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The Ontario-based rapper, who rose to fame after coming to Canada as a world pupil, was in his ancestral house of Mansa, a small metropolis within the Punjab, when he was gunned down by gangsters, a day after native authorities cancelled his safety element, based on the Times of India and different shops.

Moose Wala had joined the Punjab Pradesh Congress political get together just lately and ran unsuccessfully for workplace towards the ruling Aam Aadmi Party.

“He has been controversial, but I think it’s really important to note that he has no criminal record. His only crime was being outspoken and rapping,” mentioned Tarun Nayer, who has described the artist because the “Drake of Surrey” and is organizing the 5X Festival, an upcoming occasion in Surrey celebrating South Asian artists.

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In 2019, Surrey RCMP requested the competition to take away Moose Wala from its 2019 lineup or face dropping its allow, mentioned Nayer.

“People came out with banners. The hashtag ‘Free Sidhu Moose Wala’ was trending on Twitter. People played his songs all day. People came out with tattoos, massive life-sized billboards of his image to celebrate him despite the fact that he was staying in a hotel down the road and was not allowed by the cops to come and get on stage and play songs.”

He thinks there will probably be an analogous outpouring for the artist this yr as a result of Moose Wala deeply resonated with folks as somebody who got here from nothing and succeeded.

Concertgoers in a number of different Canadian cities have been capable of purchase tickets to Moose Wala’s “Back 2 Business” tour in current days, however the PNE determined to delay gross sales.

Laura Ballance, a spokeswoman for the PNE, mentioned the holdup was partly as a result of scale of the live performance, which might have packed as much as 12,000 folks into the indoor venue in Hastings Park.

“We wanted to do a deeper dive into security to ascertain the full scale of public safety risks in consultation with police,” mentioned Ballance. “As part of our security assessment for any large event, police look at our security plans — they may then tell us they want two or six officers on-site working with our in-house security team for the event. The PNE includes that cost in its contract with the show’s promoter.”

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Born as Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, the Ontario-based artist has held handguns and assault rifles in his music movies with songs entitled “Murder” and “Homicide.” The 28-year-old has additionally publicized his rivalry with Karan Aujla, a rapper scheduled to carry out on the Coliseum this fall.

“As a venue operator, your job is to prepare for the worst and hope for the best so that people who buy tickets can come and not have to worry,” mentioned Ballance earlier than the rapper’s homicide.

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