Hip-Hop Police Shut Down 2 Chainz Album Listening Party

The hip-hop police strike again. According to the folks at Page Six, the group—said to be a subset of the New York Police Department that focuses on monitoring rapper events in order to prevent violence—effectively ended 2 Chainz's listening party for his Pretty Girls Like Trap Music before it even began this past Wednesday night (June 7).

Apparently police were already parked outside of the venue and ready for action before the event even started at 7:30 p.m. Within 15 minutes of its start time, the NYPD, a fire marshal and a rep from the Department of Buildings (DOB) closed the doors to the listening party, which was attended by the likes of record execs, music journalists and folks like Fabolous. Ultimately, 2 Chainz was left standing outside of his own listening party, pleading for officers to let him in.

According to a source from Page Six, “The police seemed to get joy out of shutting down this event for one of the hottest hip-hop artists. There were 200 industry people invited to the party, but they shut the doors once 74 were inside. Police threatened those in line with a summons if they did not vacate the area. 2 Chainz arrived with an entourage of 20, and they wouldn’t let them in. He waited outside for 45 minutes and tried to reason with the cops and the DOB to let his guests inside. He wasn’t screaming and yelling — he was disappointed.”

Eventually, 2 Chainz, who's recently revealed the dates for his Pretty Girls Like Trap Music tour, made his way into the party, but by then it was basically over. Once inside, the Atlanta rapper stepped to the microphone to offer his apologies to everyone in attendance.

In a tweet posted shortly after his ill-fated listening party, Chainz wrote, “Fire marshall shut down my listening!!! sorry to all my fans & supporters who got turned away. I will make up for it.”

So why did a listening party for 2 Chainz, who's now well into the "certified rap star" portion of his career, get shut down like a college house party? According to a rep from the DOB, it didn't get shut down at all, and the reason a large portion of his attendees were precluded from entering the venue was because the rapper failed to obtain a Temporary Place of Assembly certificate, a document required for events with 74 people or more.

“DOB did not shut down the event," the rep told Page Six. "[We] informed the event promoters that they could continue with the event as long as the occupancy did not exceed 74 people. The promoters decided to cancel the event on their own instead of comply[ing] with the occupancy limit.”

Lame. Folks can have their own party when Pretty Girls Like Trap Music, which you can pre-order on iTunes now, drops on June 16.

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