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Busta Rhymes Explains His Rant At Lackluster Essence Fest Crowd

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Busta Rhymes has been busting rhymes professionally for over three decades now, so he’s certainly seen his fair share of shoulder-to-shoulder crowds without a single iPhone in sight. It probably did not feel good when he saw a half-empty audience and a whole lot of smartphones during his set at New Orleans’ Essence Festival over the weekend, so I don’t blame the guy for going on a bit of a rant onstage.

“New Orleans, y’all look like y’all tired,” Busta jeered during his set after asking for the house lights. “I don’t give a fuck how many seats is empty in this bitch. Everybody that’s here, get the fuck up… What the fuck goin’ on? Fuck them camera phones, too. Let’s get back to interacting like humans. Put them weird-ass devices down. I ain’t from that era. Them shits don’t control us all. Fuck your phone!”

The rant could read a bit harsh, but first of all, it’s Busta Rhymes, and second of all, he has a point — he’s just not used to people sitting down at his show, even when he’s not on his East Coast home turf. And so the obedient audience stood up and put their weird-ass devices away, and Busta swiftly carried on with his set.

But people don’t like getting called out for acting like squares at shows. So the MC later went on Instagram to clear the air and reiterate his gratitude: “JUST FOR THE RECORD WHAT Y’ALL SAW THEM GIVING WITH THAT WRONG NARRATIVE ABOUT FRUSTRATION WITH THE CROWD NOT ROCKING WITH US IS CALLED ‘SHOWMANSHIP’ RESPECTFULLY!! FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD’S POINT OF VIEW IT LOOKS LIKE AND SOUNDS LIKE AND FEELS LIKE NEW ORLEANS WAS TURNT ALL THE WAY THE FUCK UP AND WE ALL ENJOYED IT!! THANK Y’ALL SO MUCH AND WE LOVE Y’ALL!! THAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN US AND THEM!!”

Caps lock aside, Busta seems like he’s handling the whole thing with a lot more grace than his old pal Method Man did after New York’s Hot 97 Summer Jam last month. The Wu-Tang Clan member decried the crowd’s energy and the “generation gap,” swearing he’d never come back to the annual fest. Yikes. See clips of Busta’s rant and lackluster crowd at Essence below.