I was fooling around on lastfm the other week when I came across an upcoming concert from Naughty by Nature, on the same day as my birthday. Ha! I thought... in terms of Hungarian hip-hop shows, Naughty by Nature is exactly what I’ve come to expect - rappers pushing forty, in the twilight of their careers, out East for a big(gish) payday. Whenever something like this pops up on the radar, I’m minded to check the promoters and DJs, after the debacle which was Nas’ show last June. Scheduled for Studio Events Hall, a full house was kept waiting a long time -‘he’s coming,‘ ‘he’s in the building,‘ ‘he’s on his way to the building,’ ‘Nas is in the building’ ’NAS IS… on his way to the building!' 'Nas is in Budapest!' 'Nas is...' Christchurch.
Eventually, the same man who had been popping up from time to time with these ridiculous announcements appeared again at 2 am to inform us that the King of New York wouldn't be turning up. The exact details about this were, and are, cloudy. At the time, we were told Nas had run away from his hotel in the middle of the night, wearing a big stripy burglar costume, carrying a bag of swag.
What's probably more accurate is that both promoter and performer let each other down. Nas claimed that he was lied to about the size of the hall, the sound was rubbish, and was promised things that never materialised. The promoters called him a criminal, who had been pulling out of shows all around Europe. Who was responsible ultimately, doesn't matter... the treatment the audience received from both parties was unacceptable. Your Nas tickets are valid for next month’s Snoop Dogg gig, we were told. What tickets? They’d been collected at the door.
The same people are involved with Naughty by Nature - among them DJ’s Zefil and Nadir (‘the low point of everything, the time of greatest depression’ according to Webster’s), whose reputation I‘m told, precedes them. Whether the same thing will happen again… hopefully not. And, this isn’t meant to be an attempt at scaremongering. It’s just that even though we've got your back, it’s best to watch your front, 'cos it’s the niggas in front, they be pullin' stunts...' etc.
I certainly won't be going... but having said that, this song is dope. Check it.
Andy T
0 comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
