By Niko Mann
Erykah Badu said she is not here for any disrespect, especially when it comes to her concerts. The Grammy Award-winning artist is currently touring for her “Unfollow Me” tour with Yasiin Bey, otherwise known as lyricist Mos Def.
As shown through a viral video circulating on social media, a few concertgoers rudely walked out in the middle of her set in Sacramento, California, on June 20.
In the short clip, Badu can be seen standing in the middle of the stage singing her 1997 hit “Tyrone” when she abruptly stopped the concert to speak to the people leaving while she performed.
“Hold on. Stop. Stop,” she said in the video originally shared by HipHopDX. She used hands to get fans’ attention, yelling, “Hold on. Where y’all goin’?”
“Excuse me, where y’all goin’?” Badu continued. “Wait a minute. I’m not, I’m… this is rude. Motherf—ka, I’m singin’. Where are you goin’?”
She then jumped right back into singing as her band followed suit.
Fans on Twitter had mixed feelings about the singer’s rant on stage. Some applauded her band for jumping back into the song so quickly, while others expressed their suspicions that she was late.
“It’s a bit, y’all. Notice how she goes right back into the song and the band continues in perfect timing.”
“She’s always late, but not ya’ll leaving while she’s performing Tyrone.”
In her defense, two others said, “She sensitive about her art!” and “Don’t ever walk out on the legend.”
The video made its way to Instagram, thanks to The Neighborhood Talk, whose comments section was flooded with critics who speculated why audience members walked out during Badu’s performance in the first place.
“Auntie want if they had to use the bathroom,” said one fan, while another added, ” Heard she was 3 hours late SHE should’ve called Tyrone atp.”
One concertgoer who seemingly attend Badu’s concert wrote, “I left too. The concert was horrible. I love her but the remix of every song made it impossible to catch a vibe. The sound was horrible. I left too.”
Similar to Lauryn Hill, the “Lowkey” singer has a loyal fanbase who will sometimes wait hours for her to appear. Both ladies have quite the reputation for showing up late or starting their shows late, which some critics view as an inconvenience to their fans.
Badu was reportedly several hours late for a performance at Radio Music Hall in New York City in 2021. Badu was also nearly two hours late to her birthday concert in Dallas, Texas, in 2017.
Her 25-date “Unfollow Me” tour is still going, and ends with a show in Dallas on July 23.
