Slaughterhouse, hip-hop’s version of Voltron, was missing a vital organ during their performance last night at the sold-out Best Buy Theatre in New York City.
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Moments before Slaughterhouse (which consists of Royce Da 5’9, Crooked I, Joe Budden and Joell Ortiz) was to hit the stage, police ran in and arrested the group’s most popular member, Jersey-native Joe Budden.
The reason being? Budden had a warrant for his arrest due to an unpaid $75 dollar traffic ticket from 2007.
Ouch!
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At around 10 pm, the three members each individually came out — first to “The Illest,” then to “Sound Off.” As the three started to perform without Budden, questions started being muttered throughout the crowd: “Where was Budden?” “Was there a argument?” “Or are they just having him come out last?” Then Joell and Royce announced the news.
Joe Budden wasn’t coming.
And the crowd, who was already restless (they savagely booed Flatbush Zombies off the stage right before) got even more agitated.
Some people left, others muttered sh*t, others yelled, but the show had to go on. And it did.
Considering that they were missing their most recognizable member (on “Sound Off” Royce calls Budden “the legs”) the group put on a commendable show. They rapped their way through fan-favorites like “Microphone” and “Onslaught” to loud ovations.
When not doing group favs, each member had their own time to shine.
Joell performed a fanatic version of his super-dope “Battle Cry” and his underground favorite “Hip-Hop,” Royce got a raucous reaction when he did “Above The Law,” one of his many collaborations with Eminem, and Crooked I spit an awesome acapella verse, where he put his hoodie up and shouted out “R.I.P. Travon” (YN from RapRadar videotaped the powerful moment.)
Still, no matter how good the show was, and how much the crowd seemed to be in, Budden was still on everyone’s mind, and it showed:
Slaughterhouse did an abbreviated version of Budden’s number one hit, “Pump it Up” and at various moments, random chants of “Joey” could be heard (during one chant, Joell quipped “all that yelling ain’t going to get him out of jail.”)
Jersey showed up somewhat at the end, when Vin Rock from Naughty by Nature came out and did a short performance of the rap classic “Hip Hop Hooray.”
The high energy the group had at the beginning started to dissolve at the end as each member got drunker. They all started dishing out long conversations and they kept performing “Hammer Dance,” their first single off their sophomore album, Welcome to: Our House (the song is dope but “Niggas in Paris” it’s not.)
Still, most of the crowd, who were all fans of lyrical hip-hop (they even booed Drake’s “Crew Love!”) applauded and cheered on.
Hey, no matter what, the show has to go on — even when you’re missing your legs.
