AZ & Foxy Brown Debacle

On Thursday, December 10, I went to the legendary S.O.B.'s night club to see AZ with special guest Foxy Brown perform. The event was put together by a promotion company that goes by the name of "BIG CITY HUSTLERS ENT." Remember this name and do NOT ever go to a concert that's promoted by this company. To say they fucked up this event is quite the understatement, but I'll say it regardless - THEY FUCKED UP TREMENDOUSLY.

The event was technically for the DVD release of the movie "Envy" which stars Ray J, Lisa Raye, AZ, and Maia Campbell. More importantly, this show was a reunion of sorts for the '90s group "The Firm" consisting of Nas, AZ, Foxy Brown, Nature, and for a very short time, Cormega. I had a strong feeling that either Nature or Cormega would be in the building Thursday night. I was right. The host announced that not only was Smif-N-Wessun from the Boot Camp Clik in the building but so was Cormega. As the crowd started to fill in more around 10:00 PM, you could sense the anticipation to see "The Firm" back in business (or should I say "Firm Biz"?).

As I always do in S.O.B.'s, I was chillin' in the back by the bar (mainly because I'm close to drinks and it's an elevated area allowing me to clearly view the show above the crowd below). DJ Absolut from Hot 97 began the night on the 1's and 2's and then Easy Mo Bee hit the tables for the majority of the rest of the night (pic on right). I began to feel very skeptical about the show around 11:00 PM when Easy Mo Bee was still spinnin' and the show had not yet begun. I walked by Tek from Smif-N-Wessun on my way to the bathroom and then I literally chilled two feet away from Cormega in the crowd. He too was waiting for the show to start. I asked him why he was hanging out in the crowd and he just shrugged as if to say "because I can."

The Firm was indeed in the building and Thursday night should have been an incredible reunion. Unfortunately, BIG CITY HUSTLERS ENT. didn't pay AZ what was agreed upon and he abruptly bounced from S.O.B.'s. He walked right out of the club straight through the crowd and Cormega just smirked while standing beside me. Dan Green, AZ's manager and founder of Clockwork Music (a hip hop oriented music company handling booking, management, consulting, marketing and recording), was also smiling at what had transpired. The initial rumor that circled around the club was that Foxy Brown and AZ had a beef backstage and AZ left upset, refusing to perform with her. I later contacted Dan Green via Twitter to find out the truth. What killed me the most, was that the show's promoters, BIG CITY HUSTLERS ENT., didn't even have the decency to announce to the crowd that the show was not going to happen. People stood around until 1:30 AM waiting for something to happen. In my mind, that is simply unacceptable. All we got to see was the S.O.B.'s logo on the big screen behind the stage. Excellent.

It should be noted that S.O.B.'s was extremely helpful the following day dealing with patrons who paid good money for the show. A wonderful employee named Lizbeth helped me get my refund for the tickets and I assume she helped many other concert goers as well. At the end of the day, I got my money back but that doesn't alleviate the missed opportunity to witness The Firm perform some real HIP HOP live at S.O.B.'s. Instead, I got to personally witness some real BULLSHIT live at S.O.B.'s courtesy of BIG CITY HUSTLERS ENT. If you're a big city hustler, shouldn't you have your money right? RIIIIIIGGGHHHHTTTT......

Don't forget to follow S.O.B.'s and Dan Green on Twitter:

S.O.B.'s:  www.Twitter.com/SOBs

Dan Green:  www.Twitter.com/ClockWorkMusic

Also check their official websites at:

www.SOBs.com

www.ClockWork-Music.com