My City's a Sucker (to NaS)

The San Diego Reader, with its 16-page, rambling-prose stories and bevy of botox ads, is a pretty easy target (See! I did it right there!) but I read it when I'm stuck somewhere waiting, as I was the other day, and read something I didn't know about, although that's mostly because I don't listen to Jamin' Z90 as much as I did before the iPod became a car-ride staple. Anyway, the Reader's blurt section reports what NaS told Z90 abut why he canceled his show last week:



Nas Treated Nastily? "We were treated like terrorists," rapper Nas says of why he canceled his May 2 date at downtown's House of Blues.

"We came to the club, all excited," he told Z90.3 FM last week. "Couldn't wait to get here. ... Every time I come to San Diego, the energy's crazy. [We] go to the venue, and they ain't let me in. I was outside with my wife, and they treated us like terrorists. It was a little racist and we just don't tolerate that. ... We had a whole bunch of security guys rush outside to me and my wife like we were terrorists. It's not like I came with 50 guys or nothing; it was just me, my wife, my DJ, and my staff. ... They came at us like we was Osama Bin Laden or somebody.

"It was just a real nasty racist situation. ... We deal with racists in a way that they are supposed to get dealt with. We dealt with it in a manner of respect, when they should have been disrespected. We just left it alone, you know?"

Nas left the venue without performing. "It must be new management or something. I said 'Do you treat Bon Jovi like this?' They said, 'No.' ... Anybody that tolerates [racism] is a sucker in my book."
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AllHipHop ran a story, too, and added a fuller NaS quote: "That's a good club. I've played that club twice. I love that club. It must be new management or something," he said. "I said, 'Do you treat Bon Jovi like this?' They said, 'No.'"

AllHipHop reports that NaS also said he'd come back and make up the show at a bigger venue.

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No response yet from HoB, and there's certainly no reason that NaS would lie, but I'm personally reserving judgment until I see if/how HoB can explain itself. I just know how quickly things can escalate.

NaS — Life's a Bitch (MP3)