Charley Crockett has canceled a string of shows scheduled in Canada over the next two weeks. In a statement shared on Instagram, the musician regretfully informed fans that he was denied entry into the country on two occasions this past weekend. The restriction stems from his felony conviction for marijuana possession dating back to 2014.
“Everybody’s got a past. Mine’s still haunting me,” Crockett wrote on Instagram. He attempted to enter Canada first through Vancouver, where he was promptly detained. He later made another attempt through Kelowna. After the second rejection, he wrote, “I’ve been advised that it would jeopardize my freedom to try and enter again.”
The report issued to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada notes that if Crockett had been detained in Canada for the same charges he faced in Virginia, the offense “would be punishable by a term of life imprisonment.” In March 2016, Crockett received a suspended sentence and was fined in addition to being placed on probation.
Crockett’s Canadian tour was scheduled to begin on Feb. 23 in Edmonton. Additional stops were set for Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Windsor, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Niagara Falls through March 6. He has performed in most of these cities as recently as 2024. Crockett will resume touring with more shows in the U.S. beginning March 7.
Canadian ticket holders will receive refunds at their point of purchase, though Crockett hopes to make it up to them eventually. “I apologize to everyone affected. I know I let y’all down,” he wrote. “Canada’s such a beautiful country full of some of the best fans in the world, and I’ve had the time of my life playing shows for y’all. I ain’t one to quit and I aim to be back one of these days real soon.”
Crockett has often spoken candidly about his past, and has weighed in on debates both political and musical. Earlier this month, in a lengthy Instagram post, the Texan wrote that “the country music establishment should be taking notes” from Bad Bunny and went on to call President Trump “a grifter.” Last summer, during an appearance on Rolling Stone‘s Nashville Now podcast, he elaborated on what he sees as the difference between outlaw country and pop-country.
“They call the outlaw movement a subgenre of commercial country, but today there’s no doubt in my mind, that what they’re calling pop country is most certainly a subgenre of outlaw,” Crockett said, adding that he thinks the pop-country industry is mostly vacuous.
“I don’t think they stand for anything. They stand for Auto-Tune and songs written by a committee,” he said. “Outlaw was about standing up for your rights against a very rigid music business system. In a game where you throw money at a young artist, and if it doesn’t work out, no problem, because there’s 1,000 standing behind you, well, a controversial figure is unlikely to ever rise.”
Aaron Idelson
North West with her mom at a Lakers game in 2024
North West Was Born To Be a Star
As the celebrity children of the 2010s come of age and follow in their parents’ footsteps, we’ve arrived at the next generation of nepo babies. There’s no better example right now than North West, scion of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s celebrity empire, who, at 12 years old, seems poised to become a fixture in the future of not only music but also fashion. Take her recent single, “Piercing on My Hand,” which arrived on DSPs on Feb. 6, and was reported as a soul-sampled track produced by Ye and Will Frenchman. The single was reportedly released via Gamma., the independent music company co-founded by former Apple exec Larry Jackson in 2023 — the same company Ye recently partnered with for the release of his upcoming album, Bully. She also joined her dad onstage in Mexico City to debut “Piercing on My Hand” live. It’s a position that’s by now familiar for North, who previously appeared on Ye and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures single “Talking/Once Again,” which reached Number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also charted in the U.K.
Perhaps this all represents a maximalist approach to the challenge of raising kids in the public eye. While it’s common to see celebrities attempt, with varying levels of success, to shield their children from the limelight, North has been slowly learning how to navigate being born into fame. This week, People reported that her mom, Kim Kardashian, filed applications in January to trademark the company name “NOR11” for use in the sale of clothing and accessories, including dresses, footwear, loungewear, hats, watches, jewelry, handbags, and cosmetics cases. North has already gained attention for her sense of style, raising eyebrows after revealing piercings on her middle finger last September, prompting online criticism because of her age. Her debut single is partly inspired by the controversy.
In addition to “Piercing on My Hand,” North has since racked up a handful of production credits for the underground rap staple Babyxsosa, including “Tokyo” and “Viral,” released as loosies on social platforms last month. The latter samples Chief Keef’s “Love Sosa” with a kind of dense, atmospheric texture that also recalls “Hold My Liquor,” the Chief Keef-assisted cut from Kanye’s 2013 opus Yeezus. North West’s producer tag, an anime voice squeaking “North-Chan” in Japanese with the sweetness of a kids’ video game, is already on its way to becoming iconic. In January, she landed a notable early placement as a producer on “Justswagup,” a single by Mag!c and Lil Novi — Lil Wayne’s son, who is 16 years old, putting him, like North, squarely in the “next-gen rap royalty” conversation.
Last month, North went on Instagram Live and answered questions from her followers about her journey learning how to make music, sharing snippets of in-progress beats, and describing more about her inspirations. That she’s so far leaned into the sound of her generational cohort, a frenetic, almost hyperpop-infused take on hip-hop, is more evidence of the genre’s changing sound. For their part, both of North’s parents are offering their support. On Monday, Kim Kardashian shared a clip on her Instagram of her listening to North’s song in the car, despite what would appear to be ongoing acrimony between Ye and Kim.
North is less a carbon copy of her parents than a Gen Alpha translation. At 12 years old, she was raised in the feed, is fluent in online culture, and is learning early that identity is something you can iterate in public. The nepo-baby conversation, which typically ascribes unearned privilege and access to the children of celebs, falls short of describing what’s actually interesting about North West. She represents how childhood, branding, and art are collapsing into a single timeline, and she is already moving through it like it’s her native language.