Read more: Cassper Hailed As King After Cotton Fest Performance
At the 2-day event, fans were blessed with performances from AKA, fan favourite Cassper Nyovest, Big Zulu and Boity. Others included Sjava, Kamo Mphela, Daliwonga and even Riky Rick's brother.
The hosts of the 2-day event were Lula Odiba from YFM, MTV Base's Tshego Koke, Riky Rick's protégé Uncle Vinny and comedian who also is an Amapiano artist Robot Boii.
Lady Du was also a performer at Cotton Fest but a clip shared from her performance shows the crowd unresponsive. She performed her banger Umlando but there was no hype whatsoever.
People started questioning why she even went on that stage because Cotton Fest is known to be dedicated to Hip Hop fans.
Haibo, the crowd did Lady Du dirty 💔 pic.twitter.com/Qd0pIXc6RO
— Hermaine M (@HermaineM) April 25, 2022
Na the crowd was going crazy here but with Lady Du they just kept quiet 😭 https://t.co/DVnm0v3Rho
— Ntusiyenkomo (@SnqobileYanda) April 25, 2022
You would swear Lady Du was performing for French audience, is the crowd that tired? 😂🤣 #CottonFest22 pic.twitter.com/Sfd0oi3YfA
— Musa Mathebula (@musamathebulaa) April 25, 2022
Hay but guys it wasn’t Lady Du only, saw Daliwonga’s performance the crowd was the same. That crowd was pap nje kwayona https://t.co/mRMUfYjGHq
— I'm a chiller (@khanyamiti) April 25, 2022
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I’m so dead. Lady Du is literally screaming
— Mamell🫶🏾 (@lovemamello) April 23, 2022
Lady Du needs to understand that there's a difference between a trend and a hit. That Umlando song was just a trend and not a hit. People only thought they witnessed Tik Tok on stage!
— Efkay Lele Legodi ➐ (@lele_efkay) April 26, 2022
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The tracks that trend on social media will never receive the same hype on stage! 💔 pic.twitter.com/fuBmgEcd6Z
I hope someone tells Lady Du to never accept any request from Cotton Fest😭🚶🏾♂️
— ✘ (@underscoreurb) April 25, 2022
Flopo Lady Du was shouting at us, that’s why we mized pic.twitter.com/oChwQuHaCg
— Rori (@Rori_DeepSoul) April 25, 2022
M trying to understand ukuthi le crowd, is it the same crowd umprophet Lady Du was performing for? 💀💀 pic.twitter.com/cGI1DGBpcW
— MaTshabalala👑 (@SindiDambuza) April 25, 2022
Y'all really expected Lady Du to move the Skrrr skrr Crowd?? Cotton Fest is strictly for Abo Pop Smoke. https://t.co/qI607REB63
— CHRIS (@ChrisSentsomedi) April 25, 2022
Lady du at cotton fest🔥 ft. Robot boi🔥#CottonFest #CottonFest2022 pic.twitter.com/cZqLkNclO1
— Frwontou (@frwontou) April 24, 2022
Cassper Nyovest however was dubbed the best performer for the whole event despite there being some negative reception to his inclusion at the event. It was his first time at Cotton Fest but everything went well.
Cassper even said he felt Riky Rick's spirit on stage with him and he gave it his all. "What Riky Did for the youth with #CottonFest2022 is iconic. Watching day 2 from home and this is a world class festival. Thank you Riky !! Thank you brother!!! You will live forever!!!!"
We went off for my brother at Cotton Fest. Felt him in spirit. #CottonFest2022 pic.twitter.com/rFg6IZpnvQ
— Don Billiato (@casspernyovest) April 25, 2022
He announced his inclusion on the line-up of the show during his memorial service. “Riky and I met on Facebook. The same way Riky Rick reached out to all the kids. At one point I was also just another kid from Maftown and it wasn't really easy to move in Johannesburg, but he still had the time for me and he did that for hundreds of people after me.
“I then ended up forming a relationship with him, a friendship where we would not only talk about music but we would talk about life. One of the things that I loved about Riky was how honest he was. Riky would tell you the truth,” he said. “I loved hearing Riky sing. I loved hearing him sing, more than him rapping. I always encouraged him to sing.”
He then spoke about his one regret, “Me and him were not on the greatest of terms, even though we were speaking. One of the things I regret was that I wasn't able to tell him how much I loved that video and how much I loved hearing him sing again.”
“Riky was one of my idols. Riky was everything I wanted to be. One of the things I never told him — I don't know if it's because of toxic masculinity or what — was the fact that I really said he was such a beautiful man ... Riky was so handsome that, even as a guy, you'd have that said that 'Hayi man! The broer is too much!' Not only was his appearance beautiful but he was a beautiful soul.”
“It's so crazy that now, everyone is cheering Riky on for the things that he did, but while he was alive he didn't get that love.”
Image credit: Instagram/@ladydu_sa