(AllHipHop News) A highly anticipated performance in Australia featuring Phife Dawg and Ali Shaheed Muhammad has been canceled, after the promoter of the event was scammed by a phony booking agent. In August, Peace Music made announcements for the performances, which was to feature the two Tribe Called Quest members for a date in Sydney on November 27th.Peace Music said they were victims of a scam artist who has already duped three other promoters throughout Europe. “It has very recently come to light the agent for the tour has grossly misrepresented the artists involved, and misappropriated payments made to him on behalf of the artists,” Peace FM said in a statement. “Despite meeting with management in Australia in August, the fact that the tour dates were little more than an elaborate scam did not come to light until very recently. On further investigation Peace discovered that the ‘agent’ in question, one James Richardson of Abstrakt Visions Entertainment, had defrauded three different European promoters in connection with misrepresenting Phife earlier in the year, and that he appeared to be little more than a career con man.”Peace Music said that despite their best efforts, they could not negotiate a legitimate date with the pair’s management, so the decision was made the scrap the date, which will be replaced with a performance by Pharoahe Monch, Jean Grae and Boogie Blind. The new show will take place at the Metro Theatre in Sydney on November 26th. Ticket holders to the Phife/Ali Shaheed Muhammad show are being offered a free refund, or a two-for-1 deal to the new show featuring Pharoahe Monch and company. “Peace would like to express our most sincere regret to all those who purchased tickets in connection with this tour and look forward to presenting some of the world’s best hip hop artists this summer, including De La Soul and Mos Def,” the company said in a statement.
