Los Angeles, Dec. 10 (IANS): Rapper Travis Scott spoke out for the first time about the Astroworld tragedy when radio personality Charlamagne tha God released a nearly hour-long discussion.
In the discussion released on Thursday, Scott was asked early on in the interview when he knew that there were fan injuries, and ultimately deaths, at the November 5 festival that left 10 people dead and scores injured, reports variety.com.
"I didn't know the exact details until minutes before the press conference (after my set). And even at that moment you're like, 'Wait, what?'," he said.
"People pass out, things happen at concerts, but something like that," he continued, trailing off.
The rapper also denied hearing any distress from the crowd that would have caused him to stop the show.
"It's so crazy because I'm that artist too, anytime you can hear something like that, you want to stop the show," he said.
"You want to make sure fans get the proper attention they need. Anytime I could see anything like that, I did. I stopped it a couple times to just make sure everybody was OK. And I really just go off the fans' energy as a collective call and response. I just didn't hear that."
Scott also said that from his vantage on the stage, the combination of music, the band, lights, pyro and other elements makes it difficult for him to have a full grasp of what's going on in the crowd, or be able to perceive the difference between fans in danger versus enjoying the show.
"You can only help what you can see and whatever you're told, whenever they tell you to stop, you stop," he said.
Charlamagne also pressed Scott on the "raging" culture his shows are known for, and if that contributed to the deaths.
"That's something I've been working on for a while, is creating these experiences and trying to show these experiences are happening in a safe environment," he said.
"Us as artists, we trust professionals for when things happen that people can leave safely. And this night was just like a regular show, it felt like to me, as far as the energy. It didn't feel like, you know people didn't show up there just to be harmful.
"People just showed up to have a good time and then something unfortunate happened and I think we really just got to figure out what that was. 'Raging' there's not a textbook definition
"But in concerts we've grown it to be just the experience of fun. It's not about just harm. It's not about that. It's about letting go and having fun, helping others and love each other," the rapper added.
(IANS)