Ludacris was in Ghana not to be disrespected! He promised to give his best and he did just that. It is normal during concerts that social segregation comes into play. The tickets are sold according to class: Standard, VIP, and even sometimes VVIP. The story of ‘class’ will never elude our society, so the earlier we get used to it, the better for us.
My point is the VIP session of the Vodafone 020 Live was behind the standard section, and the reason is simple – so that from that position, they can enjoy the cuisine of Labadi Beach hotel, socialize, and network, without the prying eyes of the standard section. They will not have those attending to them walk up and down distracting.
Now, that feeling alone of a VIP could be dangerous(in the context of the scenario on that 020 Live concert night) when you have a star like Ludacris around, for all he needed was the response from the audience to keep him going, but that almost didn’t happen.
While there were grooves and rapping along with Ludacris from the standard section, whatsoever be it, at a point in time he felt that the people didn’t get the lyrics right, and he being on the stage and can see the audience.
He knew the standard folks were responding to the rhythm and expressing appreciation for his presence but he did not see that same attitude from the VIP, so he got angry and said, “I am performing and my DJ is working hard here, you (referring to the VIP) are seated, you are disrespectful”. Immediately in coherence his DJ kicked started the song ‘Stand Up’, everyone responded. But should they have waited for such comment before being part of the night?
One may argue that it was part of his preparation to rap that song, and so his statement may be insignificant; such notion maybe agreeable but with the ‘disrespectful’ part, then we shall leave it to our individual conscience.
It will be a complete fallacy that all VIPs were seated as some tried to participate like the standard people. So if you were in the VIP and you were standing, then his comment does not apply to you, and if you were in the standard group and you were sitting you share in the same fate of the ‘Very Important People’.