Joey Bada$$ made the difficult decision to prioritize his mental well-being over his career when he canceled his highly anticipated Dark Aura Tour just weeks before it was set to begin.
The Brooklyn rapper sat down with the Earn Your Leisure podcast to address the cancelation for the first time, choosing what he called “raw honesty” despite advice from others to handle it differently. The tour, which was scheduled to feature Ab-Soul and Rapsody as special guests, left fans disappointed, but Joey explained his reasoning went far deeper than logistics.
“My honest truth why I canceled this tour is that my mental health was just not aligned with it,” Joey revealed during the podcast appearance. “I did not feel mentally fit enough to embark on this journey. I got my five-month-old son. We’re trying to figure out vaccinations and all this stuff. It’s just such a critical time. My energy level was at an all-time low.”
The “BK’S FINEST” rapper also addressed widespread speculation that poor ticket sales were behind the cancellation. “I seen a lot of people talking about, ‘Oh, yeah, obviously, the tour tickets didn’t sell,’” he said. “Listen, I’ve been touring for a long time. Tickets sell. This goes back to freedom. I had to choose me.”
Joey Badass says the reason he canceled his tour with Rapsody and Ab-Soul was to protect his mental health:
“My honest truth why I canceled this tour is my mental health is not fit enough to embark on this journey, my energy is at its lowest everybody talking about tickets sales… pic.twitter.com/ihbqjweila
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) October 24, 2025
Joey’s decision came at a significant financial cost, as he acknowledged walking away from money that was already on the table. However, the support from his team ultimately reinforced his choice to prioritize his mental health.
“And I’m really, sincerely sorry about all of my fans that I’ve disappointed and let down who was excited in seeing me,” Joey continued. “Y’all money has been refunded, I seen that… I was excited to see y’all too. But I just did not have the bandwidth myself. I had to choose me.”
The rapper revealed he initially planned to push through with the tour despite knowing he would be “suffering inside” but opening up to a team member about his struggles led to the supportive response that helped him make the final decision.
“They really made me feel supported,” he concluded. “I really do appreciate that. It’s not like there wasn’t money on the table that I was walking away from. But I had to choose me. My mental health is important to me, and I just had to choose me. The honest to God truth is that I just couldn’t do it.”
Rapsody had previously denied rumors about low ticket sales being the reason for the cancelation, supporting Joey’s version of events. The tour was set to promote Joey’s recent album, Lonely At The Top, which despite strong hype, failed to chart upon its release.
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