6 months after cancellation, the country's biggest rap festival continues without paying artists and refunds

Cena 2k25 is marked by cancellations, fights and problems in the organization
Disclosure
In November 2025, the Neo Química Arena, in São Paulo, hosted the 4th edition of the Cena 2K festival, the main rap event in Brazil. Marked by delays, fights behind the scenes and the cancellation of the last of the three days of shows, the event continues with bills to be paid with artists, suppliers and the public.
g1 spoke to those involved who did not receive agreed amounts, including fees and ticket refunds. Dozens of people from the most varied states went to court seeking to recover the money paid to enjoy the shows.
Bilheteria Digital, responsible for ticket sales, informed g1 in a note that it "acted strictly as an intermediation platform for ticket sales." that, "weeks before the definitive cancellation, the service provision contract between the parties was formally terminated by mutual agreement".
The representatives of Cena Festival (Alex Ribeiro, Gabriel Romano and Jé Santiago) were contacted by g1 last Tuesday (19) and, since Friday (22), stated that they would send a note with clarifications, but did not return until the conclusion of this report. The space will be updated if there is a response from those involved.
Change of dates and first processes
In 2019, the Cena 2k festival held its first edition with the main highlight being Quavo, known for being part of the trio Migos, one of the biggest names in global hip hop. In addition to the international attraction, the event also featured national rap stars, such as Djonga, Filipe Ret, L7nnon and others.
In 2022, post-pandemic, the event grew even more, bringing in the North American Playboi Carti, Racionais MCs, Karol Conká and MC Cabelinho. In recent years, the event was already consolidated among the main events of hip-hop culture in the country, always mixing international and national names.
Image of the public on the second night of the Cena 2K Festival, which took place at the Neo Química Arena, in Itaquera
Reproduction/Instagram
However, information was already circulating behind the scenes that the event was facing cash flow problems and with its investors from Four Even, a company in the country music segment. g1 found that, in recent years, the company was against holding the festival because it considered the financial return to be low.
In 2025, the first problem arose even before the scheduled start date of the event. Initially scheduled for the 28th, 29th and 30th of November, the festival was moved to the 21st, 22nd and 23rd of November due to scheduling problems with the schedule of games for Corinthians, the club that plays its matches at the Neo Química Arena.
The change of dates generated complaints. Part of the public tried to cancel the purchase of tickets and recover the amounts, but was unsuccessful. This was the case of Maria Clara Alencar, who purchased two pre-sale tickets, worth R$403 via PIX.
With the date change, she would not be able to attend the event and asked for a refund.
g1 spoke to Juciara Abreu, a lawyer who represents Maria Clara. She explained that her client tried to request a refund via Procon, but Ticket Office Digital informed her that it is only an intermediary and that refunds are the responsibility of the event producer.
Since then, Juciara says she has not received any feedback from the festival. The case is now in court, where she is seeking compensation for moral damages for Maria Clara.
In addition to the problems generated by the date change, Cena 2K lost its partnership with Bilheteria Digital in the week before the festival, which directly impacted the event's cash flow.
Between the end of September and the beginning of October, the festival was already facing legal problems as the lawyers who handled legal issues and contracts with artists ended their partnership with the event.


According to g1, the problem occurred because one of the professionals from the contracted office, who is Jewish, was upset by the negotiations between Cena 2K representatives and rapper Kanye West, who in the past made a series of anti-Semitic comments and even sold a shirt with the swastika symbol and released a song with the name "Heil Hitler", a Nazi salute.
Without lawyers, the event negotiated the final details of the presentations and payment of fees via WhatsApp, without legal formalizations.
Problems from start to finish
Even with a lot of mistrust and problems behind the scenes, the festival began on November 21, 2025. In total, more than 120 artists were announced for the three-day event, which featured two stages: Trap Hits and Palco Cena.
The schedule was announced hours before the start of the event. Fans reported that several shows by smaller artists had their microphones cut off, amid boos from the audience. On that day, the artist Ryu, The Runner said that his show was canceled at the last minute by the festival, without explanation.
Nicole Kirsanoff worked on the event's production. She tells g1 that, from the first moment, everything was missing: from bracelets to authorize the entry of artists and staff to the payment of suppliers.
According to g1, at least six artists were not paid by the festival. This was the case of Yuri Redicopa, who agreed with the Cena 2K production team a fee of R$15,000 to perform on the first day of the event. He only received a down payment of R$700.
To g1, the artist's production team says that it invested more than R$40,000 to put on the show and also had to cover part of the pyrotechnics for the presentation (the cost of the event). They are trying to receive the remaining approximately R$14,000 from the fee in court.
On social media, rapper Nanda Tsunami also complained that she did not receive her fee and charged the event organizers.
On the second day, the times were not officially announced. Several artists had to announce on their own, on their social networks, when and on which stage they would perform - some even with conflicting information.
None of the big international names got to go on stage. At short notice, the festival announced the cancellation of headliner Young Thug, as well as A$ap Ferg, Oodaredevil and Zukenee for "internal and external reasons". Musician Lil Gotit published that he would not be coming for "festival reasons".
At the end of Saturday, a widespread fight backstage between rapper Major RD's team and the venue's security guards led to problems with the management of Neo Química Arena. Glass and other objects were broken during the confusion.
To g1, Major RD said that the discussion behind the scenes at the festival began when he was prevented from entering his own dressing room.
With lack of payment for basic infrastructure, such as first aid and stage assembly, as well as suppliers and the artists themselves, Sunday began with uncertainty about the presentation. Even though there were doubts about the presentations, the event did not provide information.
At 1pm, Neo Química Arena published a note stating that, after inspection by the Military Police, the event was cancelled.
"The PM's assessment was that the event did not offer the necessary medical services for those present, mandatory compensation from the organization for the festival and which were the responsibility of Cena 2K", said the statement.
G1 tried to contact Neo Química Arena, but there was no response. The space remains open if necessary.
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Nicole says that she even went to the event location to receive the agreed amount for her work in the production. So far, of the approximately R$3,000 agreed upon, she is awaiting payment of the remaining R$600.
"It was all very confusing, everything was very messy. Due to too many artists, they were forcing the event to start earlier and earlier, earlier. Until it got to the point where there was an artist performing behind closed doors.

They didn't pay security guards, producers, anything", explains Nicole.
Six months later, the event is facing dozens of lawsuits in court, most of them demanding ticket refunds.
Ícaro Lamas, a lawyer who represents a number of people who were unable to get ticket refunds, told g1 that, to date, he has not been able to get a refund from the event or the Digital Box Office.
"The festival left all consumers in the dark, with no transparency whatsoever about the cancellations. In this case, the Consumer Protection Code is applied, which protects consumers in this situation, authorizing the refund of the ticket paid, all expenses for going to the festival (tickets, accommodation...) and compensation for moral damages, given the service failure of the companies involved and frustration of the expectations of those who purchased the ticket."

Source: G1

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