Boo Who? 10 Big-Name Rappers Who Have Been Booed During Shows

November 29, 2012 - 9:45 pm by Chris Yuscavage

If you're a rapper, there's absolutely no shame in getting booed during one of your live shows. Okay, so that's not entirely true. There's a little bit of shame in it. After all, who wants to get booed while they're doing their job? But, the truth is that every rapper has been booed on stage at one time or another during a show, so it's nothing to hang your head about.

Sometimes, rappers get booed because the sound quality in the club sucks. Other times, rappers get booed because of something that they said or did off stage in the days leading up to their show. And, every now and then, the rapper in question just isn't putting on a good show and actually deserves to get booed. It happens.

It happened to Slick Rick earlier this week when he performed during halftime of a game between the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks at the Barclays Center. Partly because of some sound issues—and partly because, if we're being frank, he didn't sound very good—Rick the Ruler got booed mercilessly by BK. But, does that mean he's lost his touch? Should he run and hang up his mic forever? No. As we said, all rappers get booed. And, to help him get over it, we decided to prove it by putting together a list of 10 Big-Name Rappers Who Have Been Booed During Shows. Even the greats get ridiculed, Uncle Ricky. Don't sweat it.

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The Rapper: Kanye West When He Got Booed: At a "Watch The Throne" show in New Jersey in November 2011 Why It Happened: During a stop on the "Watch The Throne" tour, Jay-Z and 'Ye were performing when the crowd broke out into a "Ho-va!" chant. In response, Jay started chanting, "Kan-ye!" But, the crowd wasn't having it, and a large section of people even started booing 'Ye because of it.

The Rapper: Rick Ross When He Got Booed: At a Rakim show in New York City in August 2009 Why It Happened: Most of the people who showed up for the performance were there to see Rakim, not Ross. So, when the Boss came out to perform, DJ Kid Capri had to ask people not to boo him and to accept him. It didn't work.

The Rapper: Nicki Minaj When She Got Booed: At the "T in the Park" concert in Scotland in July 2012 Why It Happened: After showing up almost an hour late to her show, Ms. Minaj only performed for about 30 minutes before walking off stage. This upset a lot of fans in attendance who had expected a lot more for her, so they started booing her. Some other acts on the bill also complained about her on Twitter and reported that she was a diva backstage.

The Rapper: Busta Rhymes When He Got Booed: At Funkmaster Flex's "Hip Hop Legends 2" show in New York City in June 2009 Why It Happened: After thanking Flex for putting the event together, he started shouting out artists like Kid Cudi and Kanye West. And, that didn't sit too well with the crowd that had gathered to celebrate legends. So, Busta quickly started shouting out more old heads to regain control.

The Rapper: 50 Cent When He Got Booed: At the Reading Festival in Britain in August 2004 Why It Happened: The crowd started to throw bottles at the stage in the middle of 50's show and he didn't like it. So, he chastised them. And, of course, that only caused them to throw more bottles on stage, which forced 50 to flee. That caused the crowd to boo relentlessly and to—you guessed it!—throw more bottles onto the stage.

The Rapper: Lauryn Hill When She Got Booed: At a show in Dallas in October 2012 Why It Happened: She showed up for the concert more than two hours late (which, sadly, is not new to her) and then proceeded to go on a rant about all of her haters. It prompted the crowd to boo her loudly and to reportedly chant, "Shut up and sing!"

The Rapper: Lil Wayne When He Got Booed: At a show in Chicago in April 2011 Why It Happened: In the middle of performing a bunch of cuts from No Ceilings, Wayne broke off and performed "Green & Yellow," his ode to the Green Bay Packers. Only problem? He was in Chicago, where they hate the Packers! So, the crowd booed him before he acknowledged his mistake and gave the crowd credit for riding for their Chicago Bears.

The Rapper: Lil Mama When She Got Booed: At a Chris Brown show in New York City in December 2010 Why It Happened: After getting called on stage and being asked to spit some "hard s----," Lil Mama started going in. But, from the start, the crowd decided that it wasn't feeling her. So, she was almost immediately met with a chorus of boos.

The Rapper: Missy Elliott When She Got Booed: At the Wireless Festival in London in July 2010 Why It Happened: Besides the fact that she showed up 15 minutes for her show, Missy had also arranged for her backup dancers to wear German-branded tracksuits. And, that was a big problem because Germany had knocked England out of the World Cup just a week earlier.

The Rapper: Notorious B.I.G. When He Got Booed: At a Black Moon show in New York City in 1992 Why It Happened: Do you need more proof that every rapper has been booed off stage at one time or another? Well, a few months ago, DJ Evil Dee told HipHopDX a story about the time that Biggie got booed off stage when he opened for Black Moon at a nightclub in New York. If people out there booed Biggie—in New York, no less—then they will boo anyone.

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