Rapper JPEGMAFIA is dropping out of the upcoming Intersect Music Festival, and is no longer listed on the festival’s lineup, nor their schedule. The rapper and the festival have yet to announce why the artist is no longer listed on their lineup, however this announcement comes month after prominent DJ Black Madonna dropped out of the fest due to the festival’s “relationship with Amazon Web Services (AWS) who have business ties with ICE and Homeland Security.”
In addition to Black Madonna, more than 1000 artists signed a petition pledging to not participate in Amazon-sponsored events, or engage in exclusive partnerships with Amazon in the future, until Amazon pledges to end their contract with organizations such as ICE, and promises to end services that fuel deportations and racial profiling via facial recognition.
The main center of this controversy focuses on data mining company Palantir, which designed the Investigative Case Management system (ICM), and utilizes AWS to hold its massive amount of data. This system integrates a vast ecosystem of public and private data to track down immigrants, and eventually deport them.
Despite the festival losing JPEGMAFIA and Black Madonna, other prominent performers such as Foo Fighters, Beck, Kacey Musgraves, Anderson .Paak, Brandi Carlile, Flying Lotus, Spoon, CHVRCHES, Jamie XX, Thundercat, Leon Bridges, Kaytranada, H.E.R., Gesaffelstein, and Unknown Mortal Orchestra are scheduled to perform at the festival.
The rapper dropped his latest album release entitled All My Heroes Are Cornballs back in September. The album was preceded by a trailer which featured James Blake, DJ Dahi, Flume, Channel Tres, Buzzy Lee, Jeff Tweedy, Injury Reserve, Jeff Ellis and Kenny Beats.
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