Ray BLK accuses rapper Ambush Buzzworl of sexual assault
The British singer Ray BLK has accused Camden rapper Ambush Buzzworl of sexual assault. BLK tweeted that Ambush “aggressively” grabbed and shook her breast at a YouTube event in February.
BLK said she confronted Ambush over the alleged incident moments later, to which he replied: “What can I say Ray, they were looking nice.” She said her “blood was boiling” but she avoided reacting “in the manner I wanted to right there” because she felt she could be painted “as an aggressive or crazy black woman”.
Ambush has not commented on the allegations on social media. The Guardian has contacted representatives for the rapper.
In the early hours of 21 June, BLK tweeted at the rapper saying that she was giving him two days “to publicly address and apologise”. Twenty-two minutes later, she said she had changed her mind, and posted Notes app screenshots detailing the alleged incident.
She also shared a video capture of DMs and audio notes that she says were sent between the two parties the following day, in which Ambush responded to her allegations with “My bad” and an emoji of a monkey covering its eyes.
BLK responded: “‘My bad’ as an apology isn’t really good enough.” According to the tweets, Ambush responded with a voice note. “Ray, man, don’t do me like this, man, I’m sorry, I apologise, man. You know me, I’m flirty, I’m just fucking about man, your breast was out … It does violate, I didn’t mean to make you feel any sort of way.”
After BLK said she accepted Ambush’s apology, he sent another voice note, according to the tweets, saying: “You should allow me [leave it alone], man, you should know my intentions … You know I’m not like that, I’m not some perve or anything. You don’t need to stick it on me.”
BLK responded: “What do you mean? Of course I need to stick it on you … at the end of the day, that’s sexual assault … I can’t even believe you’re coming back to me to say I shouldn’t stick it on you like that.”
BLK said she had not spoken publicly about the alleged incident after an associate told her: “We should be protecting a black man and not damaging his career, and that potentially other male artists won’t want to fuck with me if I come out and talk as I will seem like someone who creates problems and they’ll probably just defend him anyway”.
BLK said: ‘It is this sort of silencing of people that allows people to continue years of abuse because they have some sort of power”.
She continued: “My image/my career/being liked or supported by male artists doesn’t mean anything to me whatsoever if it means that such a predator is allowed to continue doing things like this. I am a woman and I support and defend women and will never be part of the problem allowing men like this to continue.”
BLK admitted to being concerned that her allegations could “taint” her future career, “particularly if I choose to make sexy music or appear in sexy fashion. But I won’t be victim shamed. I don’t give a shit about anything anymore but speaking up, telling the truth and empowering other people to use their voice too.”
BLK won the BBC Sound of 2017 poll and was the first unsigned artist to top the tastemaker list. Born Rita Ekwere, she released her debut album, Empress, in 2018 and has collaborated with artists including Stormzy and Wyclef Jean.
She has recently spoken out about the racism she has experienced in the music industry. In an editorial for the trade publication Music Week, she wrote: “Black people have been saying there’s colourism in the industry and nothing has changed. It’s not the fact that there aren’t black or darkskinned women available or talented enough, I meet them all the time. It’s just that record labels, publishing companies and festival bookers don’t think they deserve attention.”
Ambush’s 2018 single Jumpy received a boost when Skepta and Chip appeared on a remix last year. He released the mixtape Ask My Brother in early June.