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Tafadzwa Zimoyo

Acting Entertainment Editor

The stage was brilliantly set but it was neither the Black Entertainment nor the MTV awards ceremonies.

It was the Rick Ross live concert in Harare.

Clad in a Gucci top, black jeans and gold chains, Rick Ross was in town, finally, for his maiden show in Zimbabwe.

“I’m the biggest boss that you have seen thus far . . . ”

“Cause it’s just another day in the life of the . . . boss”, go the lyrics of the song “The Boss” by United States rapper Ross.

Oh yes, he came, saw and conquered last Friday at the Harare International Conference Centre where he put up an amazing act.

He left an ineffable blot that in showbiz, he is “The Boss”.

It is a fact to everyone that despite the change of script in the last hour of the show, Rick Ross did not disappoint.

He performed his yesteryear hits including those he collaborated with other artistes which drove fans into a frenzy.

The whole auditorium, which was close to full capacity, could be heard singing along with Rick Ross whose trade name is The Boss as he felt the Zimbabwean love.

“I am happy to be in Zimbabwe and it is amazing. The people are full of love,” he said.

The event saw high profile celebrities, socialites, millionaires, models including some from as far as Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana flying all the way for Rick Ross.

Earlier before the show, he was treated to a welcome dinner which saw only the invited high profile guests attending.

Guess what, he danced along with the traditional Muchongoyo dancers and appeared mesmerized.

It was much of a hip-hop fiesta mantra as from the red carpet show performances which was hosted by MTV Base lived up to billing with guests and fans dressed for the hip-hop concert, it seemed it was a show not to miss.

For Rick Ross he cannot only smile to the bank but can include the Zimbabwean love as from his side everything went according to script.

According to a programme line-up that initially circulated on social media a day before, local acts such as Nutty O, Raydizz, Madeherbelieve, Kikky, Saintflow, Holy Ten, Takura, Rimo and Nasty C among others were billed to perform.

The show started late and disc jockeys were entertaining the fans.

Remember this, fans had the programme line up in their head and they were anticipating to see their favourite artistes according to the line-up.

They waited, agitated and started throwing cans and water bottles on stage.

The excitement was still within them.

Around midnight, instead of having the local acts performing first, the host of the night announced that the main act Rick Ross was coming on stage.

The crowd screamed and went into delirium, displaying their joy as chants of “Rozay, Rozay, Rozay” reverberated in the auditorium.

The highlight of the night was Rick Ross’ intro on the set.

Epic!

The lights, sound, theoretical smoke on stage. One could definitely tell that this was now a different world.

International standard!

Boom, Rozay came on stage holding his famous champagne bottle.

Classic, simple as this was a hip-hop show, he remained calm and collected.

He performed about 49 minutes before being whisked away by the security.

Then many were wondering who was going to be next after the change of programme.

Nasty C, Takura and Holy Ten came to perform, giving people value for their money.

It would be myopic to ignore Enzo Ishall’s striking and well-choreographed act at the concert.

Those at the red carpet show made their stamp in the hip-hop sector as they delivered a well-polished act. This time around it was around 2am and still no trace of Nutty O on stage.

Fans were wondering what could have happened.

Some could be seen now leaving the auditorium as if they had prophesied that Nutty O’s star was never going to shine.

Already speculation started flying on social media amid rumours a dispute on payment was taking a toll. But was that true?

The “Handipere Power” hit maker then issued an apology via social media to his fans and stated the reasons for not performing.

It also divided the fans.

Was what he did justified or was he supposed to have had a one-on-one with the organisers, rather than exposing them?

Some argued that if he was professional he would not have agreed to be on the poster and should not have accepted part payment before signing a contract.

Indeed the show organisers, drained his power with the fiasco.

Efforts to get comment from the organisers were fruitless but it is alleged that the organisers felt it was no longer necessary for Nutty O to perform as fans were already leaving the auditorium.

Anyway, Nutty O had the decency to apologise to the fans.

“The sincerest apologies to#ABXPeople who came through to the Rick Ross concert last night (Friday) expecting the Nutty O performance.”

“As you know, we were much excited about yet another link up and witnessing the Mustard Seed in effect, but due to circumstances beyond our control as Team ABX, despite arriving at the HICC at 9pm in good time for the programme with our performance scheduled for 22:15hrs we were not granted access to the stage area and event by the promoter,” read his post.

“Efforts for the artiste, band and team to get access tags had failed since the morning of the show. We stayed in constant communication with the organising team through management to no avail.

“By the time we managed to get in, the visiting artiste was performing and no other local artiste had performed yet. We communicated with our gig contact and they assured us that we would perform after another visiting artiste who was next,” he said.

He added that they were backstage until 3am and people were leaving which angered him.

“Even though we had fulfilled our part of the contract, the event organisers did not see through their side of the agreement as balance was not paid up by their official stated time of performance (which we had highlighted and been assured it would be sorted).

“Nutty O, band and team were not granted access tags nor access to the event before and during event. Nutty O, band and team were denied a performance slot on the stage. When we eventually got to the backstage, we were therefore not able to perform as we expected.”

The questions now on everyone’s lips was would the organisers pay Nutty O his full dues since he was already booked for a show but did not perform. According to Nutty O’s camp, it was not his fault but the fact is he missed a golden opportunity he was cherishing.

Having Rick Ross in Zimbabwe has so far been, the biggest show of 2022. No doubt.

Some regional and international stars came and went but this show united the nations by having fans from across Africa coming for Rick Ross.