Update
U.K. to Busta: You Can Play
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Pass the Courvoisier!
A day after he was denied entry into the U.K. and detained for nearly 12 hours at London City Airport, Busta Rhymes has won a ruling from Britain's High Court allowing him to remain in town to perform at a benefit gig tonight.
Justice Nicholas Felix Stadlen said he didn't want to be the one responsible for preventing the hip-hopster from entertaining 5,000 youth volunteers at a concert organized by the charity group Orange RockCorps.
The final decision came less than an hour before the show was set to kick off at the Royal Albert Hall.
"We are over the moon that Busta Rhymes will be able to play the Orange RockCorps show tonight as planned in front of 5,000 young people who have volunteered four hours of their time to community projects," said a spokeswoman for the British-based promoter.
Earlier this morning, Rhymes released a statement from his attorney expressing confidence that authorities would let him play.
"I came to the U.K. to perform for all of the Orange RockCorps volunteers who put in time in their community and that's what I'm going to do," the hitmaker said. "I am here officially in the U.K., and thanks to all parties involved hopefully I will be able to put on an incredible show for the kids."
Rhymes was stopped by immigration officials upon his arrival Thursday and barred from entering the country due to "unresolved convictions" in the U.S. resulting from a string of arrests over the past two years.
Authorities planned to put him on a plane to Amsterdam, but at the behest of the MC's attorney, Philip Trott, the High Court ordered the rapper freed pending the results of today's deportation hearing.
Just in case, Busta enlisted his buddy Ludacris to jump on a plane and fill in on the bill alongside such acts as John Legend, Feeder and the Automatic.
Shortly before getting word of this afternoon's final judicial review, Trott told Sky News that he believed the rapper's detention was "political, primarily."
(Originally published Sept. 26, 2008, at 9:21 a.m. PT.)
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