Busta Rhymes wasn’t feeling the crowd’s energy during his performance at Essence Festival on Friday night.
The “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See” rapper, 52, cursed out fans in the crowd at his performance because they were on their phones while watching the show.
“F—k them camera phones. Let’s get back to interacting like humans. Put them weird ass devices down. I ain’t from that era. Them s—ts don’t control us all. F—k your phone,” the rapper said, per one fan’s video, which was shared online.
Rhymes — born Trevor George Smith Jr. — went on to individually point out audience members and asked them to stand up for his act.
“I’m gon’ point every last one of y’all out until y’all asses is up,” he said.
“33 years of this s—t. I ain’t used to n—as sitting down at my show. I don’t give a f—k. All age groups, get your ass up, now.”
“F—k goin’ on?” he continued, calling out those seated at the top of the room. “Get y’all big head asses up.”
The reason behind the rapper’s outburst — which he described as giving “zero tolerance for bulls—t energy” — he explained, was because “this is my first time in New Orleans at the f—king 30 year anniversary of the Essence Festival.”
“Make me feel like we home,” he closed.
As people sounded off on X with their thoughts on Rhymes’ unexpected rant, many of them called attention to the empty seats in the crowd.
However, another social media user shared that the emptiness was likely due to the rainstorm going on outside of the event.
“For context, there was damn near a hurricane outside of the stadium. That is why there were only like 400 people in there,” he said, sharing a video of the downpour.
“Also, don’t judge a short clip, it was light-hearted, and he put on an amazing set. My section had a ball,” he added.
