In the middle of last week, a show was announced at The Forum in Kentish Town that had rap fans in a tizz. Busta Rhymes — declared "the most idiosyncratic personality in rap and professor of its most recognizable delivery, a halting, raga-inspired style with incredible complexity, inventiveness and humour" — was coming to town. "You do not want to miss this!" added the gig announcers for the north London venue.
Well, you'll have to miss it. The first sign something strange was going on appeared yesterday, when the show was cancelled due to that most nebulous of reasons, 'unforeseen circumstances'. A broken leg? An expired passport? A tantrum?
The last of those has potential as an explanation if Busta Rhymes' own Twitter feed is anything to go by.
IF A SHOW IS REAL WITH ME U WILL SEE ME ALSO PROMOTING IT AND TWEETING ABOUT IT MYSELF!! GO GET UR MONEY BACK LONDON!! FORUM SHOW IS FALSE!!
— Busta Rhymes (@BustaRhymes) September 3, 2014
Tweets began to appear yesterday afternoon — very shouty tweets — in which Rhymes accused the gig's organisers of pulling some sort of fast one.
ANDY ROBBINS AND METROPOLIS MUSIC R LIARS AND WERE NEVER AUTHORIZED BY ME OR MY REPS TO PROMOTE ANY SHOW TO HAPPEN AT THE FORUM IN LONDON!!
— Busta Rhymes (@BustaRhymes) September 3, 2014
Trevor Tahiem Smith, Jr. — for that is Busta's real name and you always have to put their real name in things like this, especially if they're called Trevor — is due on the Isle of Wight for Bestival this weekend, and that show doesn't seem under any kind of threat.
MY PEOPLE IN LONDON JUST 4 THE RECORD THE SHOW AT THE FORUM WAS NEVER AN AUTHORIZED SHOW!! METROPOLIS MUSIC AND ANDY ROBBINS LIED 2 U ALL!!!
— Busta Rhymes (@BustaRhymes) September 3, 2014
How exactly Andy Robbins — national promoter at a company that regularly puts on successful shows around London (e.g. Madonna, The Rolling Stones, Amy Winehouse, Paul McCartney, U2) — will react to this will be interesting to see. There has been no official word from Metropolis Music, Twitter feeds other than Busta's are suspiciously silent on the matter, and waiting for replies to entreaties for comment seems as worthwhile as staring west and waiting for the sun to come up. The Metropolis website says nothing about the phantom show, so if it DID contain some sort of announcement, it's since been taken down.
EVERYONE IN LONDON DON'T BE FOOLED! GO AND GET YOUR MONEY BACK FROM THE FORUM, METROPOLIS MUSIC AND ANDY ROBBINS 4 FALSELY ADVERSTISING ME!!
— Busta Rhymes (@BustaRhymes) September 3, 2014
The upshot of all this is that if you are the proud owner of a ticket to Busta Rhymes' concert in Kentish Town this weekend, it has suddenly become about as useful as a pair of paper swimming trunks, and you'll be wanting to hunt for a refund from the point of purchase ASAP.