Do You Remember: Busta Rhymes' Fall River Gig Turned Trial

Long before social media, Busta Rhymes hosted an un-announced after party in Fall River on December 7, 2002. There are no photos or videos from that night but there were a LOT of headlines.
...But you only knew about that surprise, after-hour gig after it happened because it quickly turned into a very public assault case against the rapper. Even then, unless you read the news, you probably didn't know that part, either.

To put it in perspective, in 2002, Busta's biggest hit was his collab with Mariah Carey's "I Know What You Want". At the time, it was #6 on Billboards Hot Singles chart. Busta was big time.

If this song reminds you at all of riding the bus to school, you are probably hearing this Busta story for the first time. In December of 2002, Busta had a scheduled performance in Providence, RI and once it was over, his friend/Jake's Saloon DJ convinced him to come over to Fall River's Flint neighborhood.

His presence at Jake's turned into an impromptu-performance for the crowd where allegedly, a fan reached out to touch his face twice, causing Busta to push her hand away from him. The he-said-she-said that followed included a police report filed by the fan that said Busta pushed her head into a table and threatened to kill her. This story made national headlines very quickly, including MTV.

Fast forward to March and Busta had to return to Fall River to defend himself in court under his real name Trevor Georoge Smith Jr. He disputed the charges and after paying almost $400 in court fees landed himself a six-month probation.

Oddly, none of this appears in the rapper's Wikipedia Legal Issues file. Go figure. These days Busta is busy making cameo appearances in Dorito's commercials and convincing people that Peter Dinklage's rap skills are the real deal.

For more weird stories from before the dawn of social media, click here.