Miss Elliott is behind her longtime friend and tour partner, Busta Rhymes. While chatting with ET about her first headlining tour — Out of This World – The Missy Elliott Experience — the 53-year-old musician opened up about Busta’s recent set for the 2024 Essence Festival of Culture, which went viral when the actor scolded his audience for being on his cell phone.
The incident in question occurred during the 52-year-old rapper’s performance on July 5 in New Orleans, Louisiana. recorded images shared on social mediaBusta becomes visibly frustrated with concertgoers after seeing them sitting and apparently using their cell phones during his show.
“Ayo f**k those camera phones too. Let’s get back to interacting like humans,” he said on stage. “Put down those weird gadgets! I’m not from that era. That sh** doesn’t control the soul, f**k your phone!”
Busta then began singling out concertgoers, saying, “I’m gonna point out every single one of you until you stand up!”
“I’m not used to n*****s sitting at my show. I don’t give a f**k,” he yelled, recalling previous shows in his three-decade career.
He then ordered “all age groups” to “lift their big heads” so he could continue his debut performance at the New Orleans festival.
“The reason there’s going to be zero tolerance for shitty energy here is because this is my first time in New Orleans for the 30th anniversary of Essence Fest,” Busta said while on stage alongside his longtime collaborator and fashion man, Spliff Star. “Make me feel at home!”
When asked if she agrees with her Out of This World tourmate’s sentiments, Missy tells ET that she wishes “people could live in the moment like we do.”
“If you go back and watch, like, old Janet (Jackson) performances, old Bobby Brown performances, you’re watching these people and there were no phones. So all you heard was screaming, people dancing, they were in the moment,” he said. Supa Dupa Fly artist recalls. “I wish it were (that way), but we’re also clearly not living in that time now.”
But Missy admits she can also understand the desire to capture the moment in real time. “I know myself, if I was at my show, I would want to have my phone on because I’d be like, ‘Oh my God, there’s something coming at you, I don’t want to miss it!’ So it’s kind of a paradox, in a way.”
“I come from a different era where we didn’t have that, so of course I miss it,” she adds. “But then I understand at the same time why they would want to put their phones out and get everything.”
Fans definitely had a lot to take in during the singer’s recent interstellar event, Missy Elliott Presents Party on the Plaza: An Out of This World Experience, hosted in partnership with The Music Center and Gloria Molina Grand Park.
The galactic dance party was held at Jerry Moss Plaza at The Music Center on Wednesday and featured live DJs and dancers from Missy’s tour leading the dance challenge started by Missy herself on her birthday, July 1.
The event was the perfect bridge to build anticipation for the singer’s back-to-back performances at Crypto.com Arena on July 11 and 12.
Missy told ET that one of her choreographers started the dance challenge and said it was a “blessing” to see how fans responded.
“I said, those dancers are hungry and that’s what I love about it, they’re hungry,” she recalls. “Seeing everyone out there is such a blessing, especially when you’ve been doing it for so long. It’s not easy to be in this industry for so long and people still come through and excel, so I’m humbly grateful. Like I told them, I wanted them to know that I’m grateful.”
She adds: “I don’t think just because I’m Missy you should do that, absolutely not! They don’t have to do that, but they do, and I’m grateful.”
The singer reflected on what it means to be embraced by the dance community, telling ET that she’s always been a big fan of the work dancers do. “There was a time when they were very needed but never respected to the level that they should have been, so to see them get their flowers… Because they work so hard; it’s hours and hours of them being on video shoots, maybe not getting fed sometimes or they have to go to the craft table after everyone else has gone through it, you know? I’ve seen a lot of things happen to dancers and they work so hard, so you know I’m always going to support the dance community and I’m glad they support me.”
“And when I make my music, when I’m in the studio, I don’t just record to make hot records. I’m there thinking about the dancers when I make my record every time,” she declares.
Fans can see Missy alongside Ciara, Busta Rhymesand even the legendary producer Timbalandia on her first headlining tour, Out of This World – The Missy Elliott Experience.
The 30-date North American tour kicked off on July 4 with a sold-out show at Rogers Arena in Vancouver featuring DJ Navarris and will wrap up on August 22 at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. Click HERE for all dates.
Both Ciara and Busta previously admitted to ET that they were working on ideas for their respective tours this year, but getting the call from Missy changed everything.
“If I’m really going to go to that place and get back in that bag, it’s going to have to be because I really don’t have a choice, you know what I’m saying?” Busta shared. “If I’m going to be among that level of greatness… We’re the ones that kind of gave birth to all this freedom in the hip-hop thing — all this grit and color and flamboyance and having fun and just bringing imagination to life in a new way.”
“(Missy is) like one of the goddesses of this particular space,” he added. “I find it more comfortable to go in this bag with my sister and with my other sister because that’s what they’ve been doing anyway.”
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