Nigerian rapper Eedris
Abdulkareem addressed an altercation with 50 Cent, which took place at The Star
Mega Jam, which was staged in four Nigerian cities between December 1 and 5, 2004.
According to Abdulkareem,
he had been asked by concert promoter Nigerian Breweries to perform at the concert,
as one of Nigeria’s most popular rappers.
"You cannot
treat me as a second and or third class citizen in my own country, I will not
take it from anybody," Abdulkareem said after the infraction. "If
50 Cent is a star in America, I am equally one in Africa."
Because of his
treatment and a contractual dispute with Nigerian Breweries, he went to meet
organizers in the plane.
He said 50 Cent’s
security team came in and that’s where the issues started.
"I was sitting
down at the VIP end of the plane and [they] said ‘hey, you gotta get out
of that seat.’ I asked, ‘get up from which seat?’ They said
it was 50 Cent’s seat, but I said I was sorry 50 Cent can’t sit here. This is
my seat,” Abdulkareem told the Nigerian News.
“After some
arguments, the guy came over and held me in my neck. The rest joined in and
they started punching me. My boys had to come from the back. But as the first
came, they punched him with buckled fingers on the face. That was when I told
them that I am Eedris Abdulkareem, you have done your worst. Are we going to
Port Harcourt? Then you will not play in Port Harcourt. Call Americans to come
and rescue you.”
A representative
for Nigerian Breweries tried to mediate the situation between Abdulkareem and
50 Cent.
“He said
50 Cent told him that he didn’t know that I was an artist. So I asked why they
didn’t tell him. He said they were sorry. He also said 50 Cent wanted to see
me and shake hands with me and have a duet with me. I said I was not going to
have any of such and I also told him that they should go and do what they ought
to do. That was the point 50 Cent took the decision to go back to America immediately.”
The man in Abdulkareem’s
entourage that was punched with the object is still in a Nigerian hospital,
according to published reports.
50 Cent denied
Abdulkareem’s version in an interview with Funk Master Flex on New York’s
Hot 97.
“They sat
in the seats reserved for us,” 50 Cent told Funkmaster Flex last week.
“Security asked them nicely. Nah they didn’t ask them nicely, they
moved them out of the seats. It was crazy, it was for no reason.”
Mr. Justin Akpovi
Esade, a journalist for The Guardian newspaper supported 50 Cent’s version.
"He [Abdulkareem]
just went crazy. He reigned abuses on everyone who called him to order, including
journalists whom he described as fools because he felt we were not on his side
on the issue. By what he has done, other foreign musicians would be scared of
visiting Nigeria on performance tours. And this can ruin the musician’s
career except he tenders an apology to all Nigerians and to journalists whom
he has insulted."
Abudlkareem said
that from the onset, he was not out to cause any trouble, he just wanted to
resolve his dispute with Nigerian Breweries.
After the altercation,
which was carried out on the tarmac of the domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammad
Airport, 50 Cent canceled his Port Harcourt performance and left the country.
"50 cent came
to Nigeria like other African-American stars and there has never been any break
down in communication before now. You all know that Africans welcome all stars,
he or she, black or white, pink or blue. Africa is the Mother colour, the rainbow
colour. 50 cent and I had performed together at two venues ( Abuja and Lagos),
and sincerely each time his security have presented themselves as "Rabble—Rousers."
Abdulkareem revealed
that he is suing 50 Cent and Nigerian Breweries for an undisclosed amount.
