Sunday, December 23, 2012

Promoter sues Queens rapper Nas for failing to appear at Angola concert

Patrick Allocco says he was held at gunpoint and spent 50 days in custody in African nation after Nas was no-show for 2 heavily-promoted concerts

                                                                                                                  
                               

Nas

Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Moet Rose

Rap star Nas attends a party in New York on July 17, 2012. Nas was supposed to be performing shows in Angola but instead spent New Year's Eve at LeBron James' engagement party (not pictured), lawsuit says. 
 
Queens rapper Nas has been hit with a breach of contract lawsuit that could cost him $10 million.
The suit filed on Friday claims a New Jersey concert promoter and his son spent 50 days in custody in Angola early this year after the hip-hop star failed to show for two heavily-promoted concerts in the southern African nation.

Nas is being sued in Manhattan Federal Court by Patrick Allocco who arranged for Nas to perform two Near Year’s shows in Luanda, the nation’s capital.

At the time, Allocco told reporters that he was stuck in Angola and being held at gunpoint by a local “concert impresario” who put up the money for the concerts.

Nas got a $300,000 advance and budding rapper Jamiah Jai, who was supposed to be the opening act, got $15,000. The court papers say Nas was in Miami to attend a New Year’s Eve engagement party at the home of hoops star LeBron James.

The lawsuit says after the shows were canceled, Allocco and his son were taken into custody by Angolan authorities who refused to let them leave the country until the money was returned.
Nas and Jai did eventually repay the money.

Allocco and his son were released Feb. 18, after the State Department intervened, the lawsuit says.Nas grew up in the Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City and burst on the rap scene in 1994 with the hit album “Illmatic.”

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