Last night (Jan. 18), A$AP Mob were joined by a slew of rap stars and fans alike at the New York Expo Center in The Bronx to celebrate the life of the late A$AP Yams at Yams Day 2018. While the festivities featured some of hip-hop's top performers, the night took an unfortunate turn around 10:30 p.m. due to a brawl that erupted backstage.

Before the melee occurred, G Perico, Aston Matthews, Retch and Da$h took to the stage at their scheduled set times, hyping the audience as smoke filled the air and images of Yams flickered  in the background. As every artist appeared in front of the AWGE bodega-themed backdrop, the audience drew in closer, engaging in the moment.

Then, to the delight of many, NAV came out and performed some of his top singles to date, closing out with his Lil Uzi Vert-assisted "Wanted You" track. Not even a minute after he exited the stage, A$AP Rocky ran on, noting he purposely came out before he was supposed to because of the good energy that filled the room on the anniversary of his best friend Yams' death.

During a heartfelt moment, Rocky expressed how A$AP Yams impacted hip-hop and the people in the culture.

"[A$AP Yams] shifted culture in little years, ya know I'm sayin'?" Rocky said. "He represent all the weirdos, all the burnt-out muthafuckas, all the druggies, all the little niggas that don't know what they want to be tomorrow but they know they something. That's the dream we had fuckin' with Yams, you know what I'm talkin' bout? I'ma tell y'all like this. Culture is beyond boundaries and colors and all that other shit. It's beyond ethnicity and nationality. Inspiration is inspiration. I want you to look at us as the Black Steve Jobs or some shit like that. We want to be innovative and push the envelope."

Rocky served as host of the festivities, welcoming rappers like Lil Yachty to the stage to perform. While performing every hit song he's had in the past two years, the Atlanta rapper brought out PnB Rock and Ski Mask the Slump God, sending the crowd into a frenzy. The night took an even more unexpected twist when 6ix9ine hopped onstage towards the end of Yachty's set—giant Blood flag and all—and performed "Kooda" and "Gummo" as the crowd yelled back every line in rejoice.

The night continued to run smoothly as Playboi Carti rocked the crowd with "Magnolia" and some of his other hits from 2017, while Cozy Boys and TDE's Mixed by Ali served as DJs playing tracks throughout the evening to get the crowd into party mode.

Shortly after, the music stopped abrubtly, and Rocky grabbed the mic to ask that some people exit the overcrowded stage. When the crowd onstage didn't appear to budge, he removed himself from the stage and headed to the general admission area and proceeded to enter the mosh pit with fans until a member of his crew yelled at him to come back, as there were "security issues" taking place in the back.

A$AP Rocky rushed back to the stage and appeared to be overlooking an altercation taking place, telling everyone involved "Y'all fuckin this up. This supposed to be Yams Day." Shortly after, a throng of fans began darting to the exits when a clamor between a group of people broke out on the side of the stage. The fight on the side of the stage reportedly involved 6ix9ine. Video of the incident shows a group of men fighting, but it's not clear if 6ix9ine was involved.

Once the fight broke out, many people inside the New York Expo Center believed the loud sounds heard were gunshots. According to the NYPD, no gunshots were fired in the venue. Glenn Schuck, a reporter with 1010 Wins, mentioned the gunfire concert-goers claimed to hear could likely be from the sound of security gates falling or hitting the ground. Afer the noise settled in the venue, an unidentified voice on the mic announced that Yams Day 2018 had, in fact, been shut down. Those in attendance were immediately ordered to leave the premises.

News of the fight quickly spread across social media. Fans in attendance have shared varying accounts of what happened, from gunshots fired to 6ix9ine being the reason the show was cancelled because he had been shot or stabbed. The rapper quickly dispelled all rumors, posting an Instagram video of himself being recorded fleeing the scene before deleting it. "Ya will never see a video of me getting touched," he wrote as the caption to the now-deleted Instagram video. "Ya want something bad to happen to me so bad."

6ix9ine then went to his Instagram live to share his side of the story. "For everybody that's putting my name in that Yams Day situation, that had nothing to do with me," he said in the Instagram live video shortly after the incident. "I'm perfectly fine. That had nothing to do with me. It's crazy, you know what I'm saying, the amount of hate that just goes around in this world, man. Yams didn't deserve that. It was a charity event, you know what I'm saying, for Yams' family. That had nothing to do with me... I wasn't in no fight. My hair is still laced, this perm. I got into no altercation... You can see my face. I wasn't shot, I wasn't stabbed. Stop making up stories..."

He also shared that A$AP Rocky spoke to him following the canceled event. "I have so much respect for the A$AP Mob," the "Gummo" rapper stated. "And me and Rocky spoke and it was nothing but love, you know what I'm saying? It's bigger than me. Rest in peace A$AP Yams and the hate needs to stop. This world is full of hate... This is not about Tekashi 6ix9ine. This is about A$AP Yams."

Watch video of 6ix9ine's version of events as well as different moments captured from Yams Day 2018 below.

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