black star

Source: ADAM IHSE/TT / Getty

Talib Kweli and Yasiin Bey, collectively known as Black Star, booked a trio of shows in the United Kingdom to celebrate three decades of existence as a crew, but things didn’t go as planned. Talib Kweli was witnessed on video screaming at a security guard during a show that was marred by reported time issues, but the Brooklyn rapper offered a statement explaining his side of things.

TMZ Hip Hop reports that Talib Kweli and Yasiin Bey were performing at the 02 Victoria House in Manchester last Saturday (November 15) when, near the end of their set, a security guard walked out onstage to enact a curfew.

Kweli took offense to the guards coming out one minute after curfew and gave them a tongue lashing that can be seen in the video in this link.

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Talib Kweli has since offered a statement to TMZ Hip Hop explaining his reaction to the guards ending their set as they did.

From TMZ:

Black Star was at the O2 Manchester venue at 8:30PM for a 9PM set time, with an agreed to 11PM curfew. At 8:50PM the venue decided to push the show time back to 9:15PM without any input from Black Star, which made us end the show later than planned. At exactly 10:58PM as Black Star was performing our final song for the night, I witnessed venue staff on the side of the stage, harassing Black Star staff about the 11PM curfew.

At exactly 11PM, as Black Star was saying good night to the crowd, (we had completed our last song by then) someone from the venue came onto our stage to chastise us and demand we leave the stage. This is very disrespectful and not standard. You don’t walk on an artist’s stage during a show. I’m sure they would not have treated a white, UK artist this way, especially when we hadn’t disrespected the curfew at all.

When I came off stage, I asked to speak to the man who came on the stage. I was instead greeted by aggressive security guards who began to disrespect me immediately, so I argued with them and held them accountable for how they treated us as guests who helped the venue make money. O2 Manchester called security on their main act for the night to enforce us leaving the stage at 11PM, even though we were already in the process of leaving the stage at that exact time.

Kweli goes on to say that 02 Victoria House staff and crew should apologize to he and Yasiin Bey and their team for what took place. However, fans who attended the set say that the group wasn’t exactly the most pleasant during their November 11 stop at the 02 Academy in Brixton. Accounts online reported that the group took the stage just 30 minutes before curfew, performed only 25 minutes of their set, and told the booing crowd they were welcome to leave, among other choice words.

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Photo: Getty