Busta Rhymes slammed for cursing out fans using their phones at Essence Festival: 'You can't bully the audience'

Rapper Busta Rhymes seemingly got agitated when he did not feel the crowd’s energy at Essence Festival.

Rapper Busta Rhymes was caught on camera cursing out fans during his performance at Essence Festival on Friday night, July 5, because they were on their phones. Rhymes seemingly got agitated when he did not feel the crowd’s energy.

Busta Rhymes slammed for cursing out fans using their phones (Photo by Arturo Holmes / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

“F—k them camera phones. Let’s get back to interacting like humans. Put them weird as* devices down. I ain’t from that era. Them s—ts don’t control us all. F—k your phone,” the 52-year-old said, as shown by a video surfacing on X.

The ‘Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See’ rapper then went on to individually point out people in the audience and ask them to stand up for his act. “I’m gon’ point every last one of y’all out until y’all as**s 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 a** up, now.”

“F—k goin’ on?” he continued, upon noticing there were people seated at the top of the room. “Get y’all big head as**s up.”

Rhymes, born Trevor George Smith Jr., said he burst out because has “zero tolerance for bulls—t energy.” He also said the reason behind his outburst was that “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 said.

‘You can't bully the audience into liking you’

Fans condemned Rhymes’ behaviour in the comment section of the video. Some pointed out that the stadium was quite empty. “Busta has been talking side ways for a while now. I’m glad he had to make a speech to empty seats,” one user wrote. “i heard he got a bad personality,” one user said, while another wrote, “I would've walked out, any artist that refers to his audience as n words don't belong on the stage performing for ADOS/Black citizens. How disrespectful and classless.” “An artist that a crowd wants to see doesn’t have to beg for engagement. Ain’t no southerners tryna hear no fucking Busta Rhymes at a concert. Take that sh** back to New York,” commented one user.

“Nothing could’ve prepared me for the camera flip to an empty as* crowd,” one user wrote. One commented, “Never understood this. I paid money to be entertained but I'm being given instructions on how to react... If it's entertaining, I'll stand up and put my hands in the air on my own. Entertain me”. “You can't bully the audience into liking you,” one user wrote.