Busta Rhymes wasn’t feeling the crowd’s energy during his performance at Essence Festival on Friday night.
via: Complex
"Ayo, fuck them camera phones, too. Let's get back to interacting like humans. Put them weird-ass devices down," Busta shouted, as seen in video from the livestreamed concert below. "I ain't from that era. Them shits don't control the soul. Fuck your phone."
To the surprise of attendees and viewers, he threatened, "I will point every last one of y'all out until y'all asses is up."
"Thirty-three years of doing this shit, I ain't used to n****s sitting down at my show. I don't give a fuck! All age groups, get your ass up now!" Busta added.
The rapper continued calling out individual attendees and sections of the venue, albeit smiling while doing so. Busta then explained that he had "zero tolerance for bullshit energy" due to it being his first time performing at the festival. "Make me feel like we home!" he concluded.
Busta's speech echoes Method Man, who performed alongside Redman at the Hot 97 Summer Jam last month, but swore off returning due to a "generation gap."
"Not our crowd at all," he commented on a Hot 97 Instagram post following the performance. "Thanks again, New York and the whole tri-state (that showed up to the event) plus Pete and Ebro. I got love for you guys. But never again.. at this point the generation gap is just too wide for me. #nevercomingback."
Busta's fans can catch the emcee as an opener for Missy Elliott's Out of This World Tour, which continues until late August.
I totally get where Busta is coming from, but he has to realize that performing at Essence Fest there's a certain audience that goes to said festival, and that's people over the age of 45. I'm sure there are some ages that are younger that also attend because they're into seeing the artists their parents played in the house, but for the most part the festival skewers for the more mature grown and sexy crowd.
Method Man had this same issue when he performed at Summer Jam a few weeks ago. Maybe they've aged out of the demo, and have to realize that people have forgotten how to be in the moment during live performances.
Maybe the energy and engagement will fare much better on his current tour with Missy Elliott and Ciara, but when it comes to Essence Fest, these old heads are not getting off their phones, and pop, dipping or spinning during your set.
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