Veteran Disk Jockey in Imo State, DJ Vicky Lee escaped what could have been mob justice by angry crowd and upcoming artistes when he suddenly called off performances at the Imo State Carnival 2015 night.
The event which started late on Monday, December 21, 2015 ran into December 22, 2015 with the likes of Phyno, Slowdog, Sym19, Xbusta, H2O and others performing at the newly unveiled Christmas Freedom Park.
Things turned sour when Vicky Lee was ordering his assistant to shut down their equipment even when thousands of music lovers were around the stage waiting to watch the homegrown artistes who were performing at the said time [around 2:00 am].
MC Yellow Mouth who was coordinating the performances did his best to make Vicky Lee see reasons why the thousands of people around the state should be allowed to enjoy the night, but it was rapper Leeroy who took the shame as the microphone and speakers were turned while he was still performing.
The DJ who refused to listen to anyone even infuriated Leeroy, and said the time the organizers paid for had elapsed and so he would never let anyone climb the state which was also said to have been rented from him. As if that was not enough, he bragged that the fact that he is not an indigene of Imo State means he has nothing to lose and he was untouchable even when some angry artistes and fans were plotting on attacking him and damaging his equipment.
It took the sermon of some individuals backstage to calm the artistes down, but Vicky Lee became calm when he realized the fans had turned off his generator and then stayed close to his Apple laptop in case anyone was planning to make moves upstage.
What really angered the artistes and crowd was that even though the DJ shut down performances, he did not start packing until his generator was turned off. He was still playing music for an empty stage and thousands of people who were angrily going home.
Some artistes who spoke to us said they were just being law-abiding by not attacking DJ Vicky Lee, but blamed the organizers of the carnival who would always employ people who only care about the money they are earning and no the development of the state.
Other artistes who were shouting on the background promised DJ Vicky Lee that he would someday pay for the embarrassment they received, while the very young artistes who could not perform recounted how much they had spent on transportation to the venue, calling it a worthless movement.
One of those who was 16 year old singer, called on the organizers and the governor to note that the carnival is not only for entertainment, but an avenue for them to showcase their talent to a kind of crowd they would never meet on an ordinary day.
In his sadness, he recalled that it was never easy for his parents to let him and his siblings out of the house by that time, counting it as another wasted night.
He said: “Thanks to the DJ who was playing god, we have wasted another time. They let Phyno and other perform many tracks because they are big, forgetting that those stars were once like us. That DJ will surely pay for his actions someday and the Governor should also help us in this bad treatment, so that we can live our dream”
