Busta Rhymes wasn’t feeling the crowd’s energy during his first-ever performance in New Orleans at Essence Fest over the weekend.
Bus-A-Bus attempted to shake the audience up for his Saturday night (July 6) set, and he wasn’t thrilled with those in the crowd not standing up, and hiding behind their cell phones instead.
“New Orleans, y’all look like y’all tired,” he proclaimed. “You motherf–kers ain’t ready. Everybody that’s in here, get the f–k up. Ay, f–k them camera phones, too. Let’s get back to interacting like humans. Put them weird a– devices down. I ain’t from that era. Them s–ts don’t control a soul. F–k your phone.”
Bus continued to rant: “33 years of doing this s–t, I ain’t used to n—-s sitting down at my show. The reason there will be zero tolerance for bulls–t energy in here is because this is my first time in New Orleans at the f—ing 30-year anniversary of the ESSENCE Festival. Make me feel like we home!”
A look into the crowd and footage showed that there was sparse attendance with fans spread thin across the floor seats, while the lower and upper bowls appeared to be more full.
Fans had plenty to say about Busta’s rant, and comments came from both sides. “This is when you are too old as an artist to realize your time and audience is old,” one person wrote on X. “It’s not 1999. If you gotta beg for energy, what dies it say about you as the performer?”
Another chimed in, “Busta is a legendary MC but that dont give you the right to talk to people like that, especially after they paid for tickets. Bad take man, he should of just performed like Redman and Meth, address it after the show.”
After the dust settled, Busta Rhymes expressed gratitude for being able to take the stage for the first time in New Orleans and appreciated the love he received from the Big Easy.
“WHEN THE TRUTH IS UNDISPUTED YOU DON’T GOTTA EVER BE CONCERNED WITH THE S–T TALK AND THE FALSE NARRATIVES,” he wrote on Instagram. “WE ARE TO BLESSED TO BE MAD ABOUT ANYTHING THAT WE LOVE TO DO!! EVERY PLATFORM WE APPRECILOVE Y’ALL BUT WHEN YOU TALK MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHAT TOU TALKING ABOUT OR SILENCE IS THE BETTER OPTION, 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!!”
Bus added: “FROM THE REST OF TH E WORLD’S POINT OF VIEW IT LOOKS LIKE AND SOUNDS LIKE AND FEELS LIKE NEW ORLEANS WAS TURNT ALL THE WAY THE F–K UP AND WE ALL ENJOYED IT!! THANK Y’ALL SO MUCH AND WE LOVE Y’ALL!!”
There’s no time to waste, as it’s right back on the road for Busta, who is supporting Missy Elliott on her first-ever headlining tour, alongside Ciara and Timbaland. The North American trek kicked off north of the border in July in Vancouver, and has shows lined up this week in Oakland, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Watch fan-captured footage of Busta’s rant below:
