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Rod Wave is not letting Grizzly Touring's lawsuit stop him from being great. The Florida rapper has responded to the company's allegations by countersuing them, announcing new show dates, and sharing his latest single.
Grizzly Touring recently sued Rod Wave for allegedly keeping $27 million in advances even though he didn't complete several dates from his "Last Lap Tour." They also alleged he's still bound by their contract for future shows. According to a report Billboard published on Monday, October 13, Rod Wave, born Rodarius Marcell Green, fired back with his own lawsuit claiming Grizzly Touring's production errors and routing failures made it “logistically impossible” to finish the tour.
“Grizzly is not entitled to this improperly requested specific performance or equivalent injunctive relief, which effectively amounts to an indentured servitude,” Rod’s lawyer James Sammataro wrote. “Defendants have lost confidence in Grizzly as their tour promoter and no longer wish to perform services for Grizzly or receive Grizzly’s services.”
After the tour was announced in 2024, the "Tombstone" rapper was booked to perform at 35 shows and received $57 million to help cover all expenses, like lodging, travel, and production. Grizzly alleged Rod Wave only performed at 26 shows, which only earned $30 million. Some shows were postponed to 2025; however, Rod Wave eventually cancelled the remaining dates. Grizzly Touring claimed the cancellation of Rod's shows was a violation of their contract. However, Rod argued that Grizzly violated the contract when they allegedly failed to load his production equipment in and out of the arenas, and made "unilateral, onerous and inexplicable routing and booking decisions.”
“Rod Wave frequently learned only at the last minute that a show had been rescheduled, often only after seeing tickets for these rescheduled shows available online,” the countersuit said. “Only 12 of the 35 scheduled [shows] occurred at the date and venue originally announced.”
Rod Wave's legal team wants a judge to make his contract with Grizzly Touring null and void. He also wants financial compensation for breaching their contract and reputational harm he suffered from after “understandably outraged” fans railed against him for cancelling the tour dates. He also wants clearance to embark on his own tour, dubbed the "Redemption Experience Tour," without any interference from Grizzly.
“Grizzly’s lawsuit represents an improper effort to force Rod Wave to specifically perform a personal services contract for Grizzly against his will,” Rod's attorneys wrote.
The "Redemption Experience Tour" begins on December 7 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. He'll continue to hit six other cities until he wraps up in Miami on January 2. To fuel the hype for his tour, Rod Wave also dropped his new song "Leavin'." Watch the official music video below.