Ludacris to perform at Guantanamo Bay on July 4th

The Grammy Award winning artist will perform for 6,000 Navy personnel

Justin Carissimo
New York
Tuesday 28 June 2016 00:38 BST
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For one night only, rapper Ludacris will perform for workers at the US Navy base Guantanamo Bay in Cuba on July 4th.

The Grammy Award winning rapper will headline the annual Freedom Festival with roughly 6,000 military personnel in attendance. The festival will begin with family activities at 6pm and the music kicks off at 10pm.

The US base has notoriously held hundreds of prisoners without charges and has been accused of human rights violations for its conditions, use of torture and interrogation methods. The festival will be held miles away from the Detention Center Zone, far enough that inmates will not be able to hear the southern rapper's greatest hits such as "Move B**ch," "What's Your Fantasy?" and "Area Codes."

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“Every year we get a special guest around the Fourth of July, but Gitmo hasn’t seen a star with as big a name as Ludacris in several years,” Navy Chief Monique Hilley told Radio Gitmo on Monday. “The base is really looking forward to it.”

Ludacris has previously performed for US military personnel, the Miami Herald reports, at Maryland's Fort Meade in 2010 and at Texas’ Fort Hood in 2004.

“This is by far the biggest entertainment since I have been here,” Christina Blevins told The Guardian. “I’m thankful we get to see him before we leave. I will take many memories away from this place but this one will be a huge highlight.”

Former performers at the base include Jimmy Buffett in 2002, Jimmy Eat World in 2014, Magic! in 2015 and The Plain White Tees played last October.

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