Who advised rapper Jadakiss to take a trip to Swaziland trip to perform at a “fundraiser” for Swaziland’s royal family? The trip is recounted in this promotional video shot by his team. Watch from the 5th minute.

As we know, the Swazi royal family really need a fundraiser. This is the same royal family whose king, Mswati III, paid for a US$6.3 million shopping trip for his wives to Asia in 2009; Swaziland is also a country where about two-thirds of the people live in abject poverty, and more than a quarter of the adult population has AIDS. Oh, and the money from the national treasury for the upkeep of the king’s family is equal to the education budget. I know the Swazi people weren’t happy about this. They didn’t show up. In fact, the Swazi Youth Congress, which has been prominent in the resisting absolute monarchy, asked Jadakiss to not do the show. Of course, Jadakiss did.

I am copying below an excerpt of what I wrote in September 2008 on a previous iteration of this site about Mswati III’s rule that mostly still holds.