Some artists love to see fans capture their favourite moments of a live set, welcoming them to snap a quick photo or video for their Instagram Story – and as we learned over the weekend, Busta Rhymes is definitely not one of those artists.
The hip-hop pioneer slammed his phone-touting audience at the Essence Festival in New Orleans last Friday (July 5), making his stance clear in a rant between songs: “Ayo fuck them camera phones too – let’s get back to interacting like humans,” he declared. “Put them weird-ass devices down! I ain’t from that era. Them shits don’t control us all. Fuck your phone!”
Rhymes also took issue with fans sitting for his performance. Right after his quip about phones, the rapper went on to address an audience member directly, motioning for them to get out of their seat, before letting the entire crowd know, “I will point every last one of y’all out until y’all asses are up! 33 years of doing this and I ain’t used to n****s sitting down at my show! I don’t give a fuck! All age groups, get yo’ ass up now!”
He then pointed out another sitting fan, saying, “I see you, beautiful queen, get up too… Fuck goin’ on? Everybody up top, too, get your big-head asses up!”
In closing, Rhymes explained his stance: “The reason why there will be zero tolerance for bullshit energy in here is because this is my first time in New Orleans, at the fucking 30-year anniversary of the Essence Festival! This is my first time, it’s my brother’s first time, and it’s my other brother’s first time – make me feel like we home!”
So, now we know what Rhymes expects from us at his upcoming Australian visit. Announced last month and slated for October, the short tour will see the rapper play massive headline shows in Sydney (Eora) and Melbourne (Naarm) alongside his headlining appearance at this year’s Promiseland festival.
The trek comes in support of Rhymes’ 11th studio album, Blockbusta, which arrived last November and sported collabs with the likes of Quavo (on the track Remind ‘Em), DaBaby and T-Pain (on Big Everything), Burna Boy (on Roboshotta) and Kodak Black (on Homage).
The last time Busta Rhymes performed in Australia was in April 2011, when he appeared as part of that year’s Supafest tour. His most recent LP at the time was 2009’s Back On My BS, and he’s since released another two full-length efforts: Year Of The Dragon in 2012, and Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath Of God in 2020.
