Busta Rhymes Has Blunt 4-Letter Word For Fans Using Phones At Essence Festival

Busta Rhymes didn’t mince his words as he directed a message to fans using their devices in the crowd at Essence Festival on Friday.

“Ayo, fuck them camera phones, too,” said the legendary rapper, who performed on the opening night for the festival’s concert series portion at New Orleans ’ Caesars Superdome.

“Let’s get back to interacting like humans. Put them weird ass devices down. I ain’t from that era. Them shits don’t control the soul. Fuck your phone.”

The 52-year-old rapper continued his explicit message as he encouraged the crowd to be attentive.

“I will point every last one of y’all out until y’all asses is up,” said Rhymes, who noted that he’s “not used” to people sitting down at his shows.

He added that he had “zero tolerance for bullshit energy” because it was his first time performing at the Essence Festival.

“Make me feel like we home,” the rapper declared.

In an Instagram post on Saturday , Rhymes appeared to dismiss claims that he was frustrated with the crowd and described his response as “SHOWMANSHIP” in an all-caps caption accompanying the post.

He went on to write that it was “TRULY AN HONOR” to perform at the festival on its 30th anniversary and thanked the New Orleans crowd for their “INCREDIBLE ENERGY.”

In an interview ahead of the performance, Rhymes told “The View” last month that he was raised on Essence magazine and “lived” in its pages while sitting in the barbershop as a child.

“I used to see all of the heroes, and I used to see the afros, and I used to see the beautiful, natural beauty of our beautiful Black women and queens and kings,” he said.

“And I would see these record executives, and I would see these artists, and I would see athletes, and I just was like, ‘Yo, I’m going to be one of these dudes. I’m going to be like one of these greats,’” he continued. “And it kind of started there.”

Rhymes is currently one of the supporting acts on Missy Elliott ’s “Out of This World” tour, Elliott’s first-ever headlining tour in her career.