U.S. concert promoters held in Angola

MORRISTOWN, N.J., Feb. 12 (UPI) -- A New Jersey woman says her husband and son are being held in Angola after U.S. rapper Nas allegedly skipped out on a concert in the African nation.

Abby Allocco told the New York Post her husband and son, both named Patrick, were left holding the bag when Nas and fellow rapper Jemiah Jai failed to show up for a New Year's Eve concert they were promoting in the capital Luanda.

"That they're being held for something that somebody else did is preposterous," Abby Allocco said.

The two Morristown men were being held captive in a hotel by their Angolan partner and a gang of armed henchmen, Allocco said. They also endured an allegedly harsh interrogation by police who confiscated their passports and demanded $300,000 to pay back the advance and another $75,000 for the promoter's trouble.

The Post said Nas and Jai allegedly kept the $315,000 advance they had received and never even went to Angola. Neither performer commented on the matter.