(AllHipHop News) Whoever was running security at Madison Square Garden a decade ago may have to go into hiding after this one. During an interview with ThisIs50, Cassidy revealed for the first time how him and “a couple of goons” gave R. Kelly a special brand of assistance following the pepper spray incident during his and Jay Z’s Best of Both Worlds tour in 2004.
By the end of November 2004, two things were abundantly clear: Cassidy and R. Kelly had a monster hit on their hands with “Hotel” and the Best of Both Worlds experiment was had imploded. During an October 29th performance at Madison Square Garden during the pair’s Best of Both Worlds tour, R. Kelly prematurely left the show after believing someone in the crowd flashed a gun. After attempting to return to the stage following the promoter informing Kelly that extra police officers had been dispersed into the crowd, Kelly claimed that an associate of Jay Z’s pepper sprayed the singer.
According to Cassidy, he was in the building preparing to perform “Hotel” with R. Kelly for the first time since its release a year prior. Following the pepper spray incident, Cassidy says he decided to step in and help a collaborator in apparent need:
Then they come back in there saying him and Jay Z went through something and R. Kelly got pepper sprayed or maced or something. The a couple little while later, I see R. Kelly coming through, he running through, they trying to guard him. But, I ain’t really know what happened. I ain’t know it was Jay Z and them. All I know is he got maced and I was supposed to go on stage with him and it was f*cking up my night. So when his managers came back through, it was me and a couple of goons I was with. Them n*ggas was looking like they were at a disadvantage so, nah’mean, we passed them off a couple burners so they could feel better about themselves.
Cassidy does say he only gave the singer and his team two of the possible “four burners” him and his entourage had in possession. R. Kelly was rushed to St. Vincent’s Hospital, where Cassidy says he and his crew waited to retrieve their loaned out guns from the singer.
In a radio interview with Angie Martinez on Hot 97 the day after the incident, Jay Z shot down R.Kelly’s gun accusations:
That’s Madison Square Garden. You cannot get a gun in Madison Square Garden. Does he know where he’s at?
Two years later, Jay Z’s longtime best friend and business associate Tyran “Ty Ty” Smith pled guilty to disorderly conduct in connection to the incident.
Check out Cassidy speak on the gun exchanging incident with R. Kelly backstage at the Best of Both Worlds tour in 2004 below: