In his farewell address to fans delivered through host, Neisha-Yen Jones, dancehall artiste Skeng dropped the phrase “death before dishonour” as he thanked his loyal supporters for coming out to his EP launch. Still, what should have been a great moment spent with fans inside Di Lot on Constant Spring Road in Kingston on Thursday night, was anything but honourable as guests left without so much as a performance from the ‘Ratty Gang don’.

After waiting some four hours for the Protocol deejay to make his grand entrance to the event, fans were no doubt left disappointed as the man of the hour spent less than five minutes on stage.

It was supposed to be the occasion where the artiste unleashed the ‘Beast of the Era’ his new EP, however, the highly anticipated launch of Skeng’s debut EP fizzled to an anti-climatic end.

Whispers of “so that’s it?” echoed throughout the Constant Spring venue when Jones read a woefully underwhelming apology from Skeng. The entertainer, who was said to be ill, blamed his inability to perform on a change in the weather — albeit there were clear skies the entire night.

The ‘apology’ was a sign that the event had come to an abrupt end. Guests began filing out of the venue.

Before the hasty ending, fans were lucky enough to at least be briefed on the body of work. The project marks the first compilation from the entertainer since he shot to stardom over a year ago. Boasting six tracks, the EP was executively produced by Skeng himself on his newly formed label, RG Music (Ratty Gang Music), together with Geejam Recordings.

Internationally acclaimed producer, Rvssian, worked with the entertainer on two tracks on the EP — Thug Life and It’s True featuring Shenseea. Di Truth Records, who has been instrumental in the artiste’s rise to fame, is responsible for the lead track, Demons Awake while Highway and New Era came courtesy of John Coop.

The other single on the EP, Eeddiattt features fellow artiste Jigsta. The track was produced by Droptop Records and co-produced by Emelio Lynch and Kevon Shaw.

Those who were hoping to enjoy performances of the new music on Thursday will have to get their ‘fix’ by downloading the EP on all available digital platforms. The project became available for purchase at midnight.

Earlier on in the night, as if anticipating her client’s future moves, co-manager Cara Vickers sought to address the entertainer’s elusive ways. Indicating that the thoughts of artistes are often misconstrued by the media, Vickers said Skeng has purposely avoided the media.

Since getting his big break in music, the Likkle Miss deejay has only accommodated a handful of interviews. Vickers explained that the latter is because the entertainer wants to ‘tell his own story.’

“He doesn’t do interviews not because he’s anti-social’ — well maybe a little bit —,” Vickers admitted. “But because he’s preserving his energy and his right to narrate his story for what it really is. He doesn’t want anybody to run with a comment or run with a song and judge him. If he makes that choice not to do an interview, it’s nothing personal.”