The promoter behind Mos Def’s ill-fated 2011 Australian tour has spoken to The Vine about the ordeal, detailing the issues that so often accompany hip-hop tours. Or in his own words: “All the pre-planning in the world couldn’t have prepared me for the living nightmare that was the reality of doing that tour and dealing with Mos Def.”

In the interview, Sam Speaight talks at great length about what went wrong with the tour, revealing: “From memory, he [Mos Def] cancelled four out of 11 shows. We got away with about two-thirds of the shows that he’d said he’d play….Those cancellations meant an immediate net loss of around $250,000.”

Speaight also talks candidly about what he believes to be a far-reaching issue in touring US hip-hop artists: dodgy management.

“They seem to live in such a bizarre, self-constructed reality that is so far away from what you might describe as career management, business, or just basic logic,” he bemoans. “The people managing these artists couldn’t manage a bet in a casino, you know? Most of the time they’re friends. Very rarely are they reputable managers. A lot of music industry managers are friends, I guess.

“This isn’t uncommon in the entertainment business. But there’s a culture of doing business in a very haphazard and sloppy fashion that permeates the US hip-hop world. That shines through when you’ve got a manager who isn’t qualified, and also isn’t expected to do a good job. So they don’t.”

Despite incurring massive financial losses due to the cancellations Speaight concludes, “Look, Dante – Mos Def – he’s a very strange artist who operates in very strange ways that I don’t understand, but in the end, he’s another human being doing what he does, and I bear him no ill will.”