Soundwave Looked To Book Eminem For New Rapture Festival

Soundwave boss AJ Maddah might have added hip hop to the considerable (and increasing) cache of genres he and his company are so in control of in the Australian market had a proposed event – the Rapture festival – gone ahead.

Herald Sun rumour-monger Nui Te Koha reported yesterday that Soundwave were invited to be a part of discussions with Australian large scale concert promoter Paul Dainty with regard to a return tour from American hip hop megastar Eminem.

Te Koha says that the rapper will tour Australia in February and March in support of his November release MMLP2 and will once again play stadium shows like he did on his last visit in 2011.

When questioned about it on Twitter, the always very open Maddah said that Eminem was never considered for Soundwave itself, rather for a different festival that never got off the ground.

@PaddianneKiley Nope. We were working on a festival w him called Rapture. Didn't work out.

— AJ (@iamnotshouting) September 1, 2013

It is believed Soundwave decided not to become involved with the Eminem dates after it became clear he'd prefer to play his own headline shows. Big Day Out's Ken West admitted he faced similar conundrum with the rapper a couple of years ago.

Speaking with the New Zealand Herald back in 2011, West said that the festival offered six million dollars per show.

"It was la la land to think he could ever do the Big Day Out, even though we offered $6 million," he said.

With the Soundwave, Harvest and now Warped Festivals, AJ Maddah and his team have become a dominant force in the Australian music festival market. Indeed Maddah was recently named the most powerful figure in the Australian music industry.

Eminem certainly would be a stretch for a Soundwave audience, though Cypress Hill performed at last year's Soundwave Festival to a rapturous response and Maddah has admitted Body Count were on his radar for 2014's event.

@carlmacca we were supposed to have Bodycount (not strictly hip hop, I know) but Ice T's TV schedule was extended :(

— AJ (@iamnotshouting) August 28, 2013