The much-loved hip-hop concert celebrated its 30th anniversary, “commemorating HOT 97’s legacy of innovation and cultural influence in the hip-hop community.” The 2024 Hot 97 Summer Jam lineup included many explosive names, such as Doja Cat & Friends, Sexy Red, French Montana, Favido, Lola Brooke, Cash Cobain, Bay Swag, Honey BxB, Fivio Foreign, 41 [Kyle Richh, Jenn Carter, Tata]Sleepy Hallow, Connie Diamond, 310BABII and Ty Dolla $ign and friends.

Celebrity host A Boogie took the helm as the mega hip-hop stage celebrated the life of Brooklyn pioneer DJ Mister Cee, who built a storied career at the radio station with his Throwback at Noon and Friday Night Live sets. In addition, Big Daddy Kane, Jadakiss, EPMD, Eric B. & Rakim, Method Man and Redman, and Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz also made the roster as featured artists at the concert.

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“Generation Gap”: Summer Jam audience disappointed Method Man and Redman

Unfortunately, the crowd at the arena likely wasn’t aware of Method Man and Redman’s game-changing relevance in the world of hip-hop. Hot 97 didn’t waste any time cheering the duo on. Promoting their infectious energy, the radio station shared a clip of the ‘Da Rockwilder’ artists’ performance at Summer Jam with the caption, “Nobody brings the energy like #Methodman and #Redman.”

Sadly, the audience in attendance did not respond with the same energy. Method Man was not happy with what happened at the concert and shared a video posted by @.Tikathletics On his Instagram Stories, which showed a nearly silent crowd standing around with camera flashes in hand. The ‘Blackout!’ singer sarcastically poked fun at the scene in front of him, saying that the audience was probably feeling bored during his performance.

Pasting a giant sleeping face emoji, he wrote: “We: fell in love with the energy of the Summer Jam crowd…

Crowd: …………”

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Why did Method Man refuse to perform at future Hot 97 Summer Jam festivals?

While an army of fans rose up in support of the Def Squad and Wu-Tang Clan spinoff duo, no one could fool Method Man, who addressed the unfortunate events that took place at Hot 97’s concert.

Feeling a growing “generation gap,” the hip-hop legacy artist admitted to feeling unpleasantly out of place, commenting on a Hot 97 Instagram post, “Not our crowd at all.. thanks again NY and the whole tri-state (who attended the event) plus Pete and Ebro I love you guys but never again.. the generation gap is too big for me at this point.. #nevercomingback.”

Method Man’s History with Hot 97’s Summer Jam

American rapper, record producer and actor Clifford Smith Jr. was born at the Summer Jam gathering. Method Man and his fellow members, who previously performed with his hit hip-hop group, Wu-Tang Clan, in 2013, had a long-standing feud with the radio station. Although they made a strong comeback to the music festival stage in 2013, the Wu-Tang Clan was banned from Hot 97 in the year 1997.

After releasing their double-disc album ‘Wu-Tang Forever’ in 1997, the group embarked on a national tour with Rage Against the Machine. Although they were booked to play the headline act at the Summer Jam Fest that year, the deal took a bad turn as pressuring comments from the radio station raised a major red flag.

According to an article on Hot97.com, Inspector Deck said, “As far as I remember, the deal was that you had to come back and participate in this Hot 97 Summer Jam, or else we wouldn’t play any of your records on our station.” Eventually, when the members took the Summer Jam stage to perform for free “at our own expense,” an irritated Ghostface Killah made his feelings clear by heartily yelling, “Fuck Hot 97!”

The crowd applauded, and that was it. According to Deck, radio stations reacted in a serious way and did not play his record “for the next 10 years.” Notably, this affected his overall presence, and other stations stopped airing him.