Incident at P&L District shocks DJ Jazzy Jeff

[Deberg_1990]

Wow......Unreal.



http://www.kansascity.com/226/story/1238798.html



Another day, another racial controversy at the Power & Light District.

For a year, the black community has been in arms about perceived racism at the entertainment district, a place their tax money helped fund. But it’s always rebutted. Everyone is welcome at the P&L, officials say.

Well, those who follow the hip-hop music scene have more to chew on since late Saturday night, when one of hip-hop’s icons, DJ Jazzy Jeff, cut short a set of music and left the stage in a dispute over the kind of music his show was spinning.

I walked in just as he was walking off the stage. He had performed less than 30 minutes.

The crowd booed and I heard people, both black and white, yell about how the Power & Light didn’t want him to play hip-hop. I wasn’t sure what happened, but I knew it was bad.

A conversation I had with him early Sunday confirmed it.

He might be best known as one half of DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, but he is more than Will Smith’s old DJ and friend. The two won the first rap Grammy.

Jeff Townes, his given name, is legendary. He introduced “transforming,” the scratching technique turntablists use. This man has toured for 25 years. He’s an acclaimed producer.

So what exactly happened?

According to his tweets (twitter.com/djjazzyjeff215), he was kicked offstage for playing hip-hop. Jon Stephens, president of the Power & Light District, says it was about the sound levels.

“The issue that arose with the performance last night was completely about the sound levels,” he said Sunday. “His audio tech was maxing out the sound system to a point that risked damage to the speakers and sound system. His sound techs and management refused to bring the decibel level down. They were told to bring it down or cease performance. They refused to go on.”

Hours after he returned to his Philadelphia home, I spoke to Jazzy Jeff on the phone to hear his side.

His set started with sounds of hip-hop and pop favorites — Jay-Z, Biz Markie, Rihanna. His MC, Skillz, hyped up the crowd.

But after 15 minutes or so, in the middle of an R&B hit by Ne-Yo, “Miss Independent,” he was told to stop.

“My road manager walked up to me and said they were having problems with the music I was playing,” Jazzy Jeff told me. “I played three more songs and he comes back. I knew something was wrong. They said I had to kick Skillz off the stage, change the format of the music I was playing or quit. They said if I continued playing they had 30 cops ready to come escort me offstage. So I stopped.”

Jon Stephens says that isn’t so.

“Obviously we have a desire to book a diversity of acts,” he said. “We booked Jazzy Jeff on a Saturday night, the biggest night of the week in the district. We were excited to have him there. It’s unfortunate that his sound and management people had problems adhering to the sound and audio rules. We wanted him to play. That’s why we booked him.”

Jazzy Jeff was excited to play here too.

But it all went wrong. Venue officials said the set attracted the wrong kind of element, he says.

“They said they didn’t like Skillz’s posture,” Jeff said. “They said he made gang-like signs and grabbed at his genitals.”

So P&L officials wanted him offstage. But Jeff felt it was wrong because Skillz is no gang member. He is a father. His hand gestures were the kind of excited movements you make to get the crowd excited.

He wasn’t cursing or being offensive.

“I was playing Rihanna; she is Top 40,” he says. “If they would have let my set play, they would have known I play everything. I play rock, funk, soul, pop, hip-hop, reggae. I don’t play for a certain genre, race or gender. I play for music lovers.”

In his 25-year career, at 44 years old, Jeff has never been told to end a set because of hip-hop. He says he has never felt that kind of racism. The “element” that officials referred to felt like a reference to black people, a hip-hop crowd.

“I’m in shock,” he says. “I didn’t understand what element they were talking about. I looked out in the crowd and it was multicultural, but about 75 percent white. Everyone was having a great time. I wondered what was so offensive. I never had a race issue. I didn’t know how to feel. I was playing ‘Just a Friend.’ Is that offensive? What element? It’s uncomfortable when you feel unwanted.”

[mikeyis4dcats.]

mic must be off drinking Cristal again...

[kstater]

Originally Posted by Mr. Flopnuts

Mic and Dotte are pissed about racism. Everyone else is pissed that they think it's racism. I'm pissed that everyone is acting like a bunch of idiots. Everyone except Reaper16 that is.

To be fair, Mic and Dotte are so far apart in idealogy(yeah I know it's spelled wrong), that you can't lump the two together.

[PunkinDrublic]

Isn't it a sad statement for a venue when DJ Jazzy Jeff is considered too edgy. Every city has it's problems. I know here in Dallas there's actually a neighborhood association right next to an entertainment district (lower Greeneville) that enforces resident only parking and is always shutting down shows due to noise complaints. Nevermind the fact that there's about a million suburbs these people could move to.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by kstater

To be fair, Mic and Dotte are so far apart in idealogy(yeah I know it's spelled wrong), that you can't lump the two together.

true

[Inspector]

Originally Posted by CoMoChief

The general point I am trying to make is.... the ones calling the P&L officials racist are the ones who choose to present themselves as thugs, and they want to bring in that kinda lifestyle into the district. And props for them not wanting that......I dont think anyone wants that. It causes trouble.

Can someone dressed nice and looks presentable cause crime? Can they too in fact shoot someone? Of course they can. Me, you and anyone can do that. But is it likely? No. If you're a bouncer at a club who are you gonna watch more closely? Who do you generally think is more likely to cause trouble? The person wearing a nice shirt n pants who looks the part of having a good time on a Sat night, or the person walking in with a wife beater, underwear showing out from his ass, cornrows, hat tilted sideways, and his body head to toe in tats. Looked like he had just come from Troost and Prospect.

Not to be a nit picker Mr. CoMoChief, but I do not believe Troost and Prospect cross paths at any point within the city limits. In fact, IIRC, Troost is the 1200 block East while Prospect is the 2600 block East.

OK, I think those nits have been picked quite well enough.

Thanks and carry on.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by Inspector

Not to be a nit picker Mr. CoMoChief, but I do not believe Troost and Prospect cross paths at any point within the city limits. In fact, IIRC, Troost is the 1200 block East while Prospect is the 2600 block East.

OK, I think those nits have been picked quite well enough.

Thanks and carry on.

to be fair he never said that was an intersection. just said they looked like he had just come from troost and prospect, he could have been on both at some time that day.

[Inspector]

Originally Posted by Dottefan

NO STUPID..MY POINT IS THEY ARE YOUNG AND THAT THEY WILL EVENTUALY DRESS A LITTLE MORE GROWN UP .....WHEN THEY GET OLDER, JUST LIKE THE WHITE GUYS WHO HAD RIPPED JEANS LONG HAIR AND A MAIDEN T SHIRT.... DUMB ASS AND SO WHAT IF THEY DRESS THAT WAY, YOU NEED TO GET OVER YOUR OWN PRE CONCIEVED NOTIONS OF WHAT THUGS ARE..THATS YOUR PROBLEM ,NOT MY BROTHERS PROBLEM..

Dang...

Seems like you're yelling.

ow...my ears....

[Simplex3]

Originally Posted by PunkinDrublic

Nevermind the fact that there's about a million suburbs these people could move to.

So the reasonable solution to a noisy neighbor is to just move? Seriously?

[DJJasonp]

I've been away from KC (as my residence) now for about 12 years.....nice to see absolutely nothing has changed.

[Inspector]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

to be fair he never said that was an intersection. just said they looked like he had just come from troost and prospect, he could have been on both at some time that day.

Right you are Mr. JASONSAUTO, right you are.

I was reading way too much into his statement.

[Mr. Plow]

Originally Posted by Reaper16

This thread makes me embarrassed to be white. I don't want to be guilty of idiocy by association.

Oh Jesus.

[Micjones]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

and why have you left that out all day?

There are several pieces to this story I haven't shared.
Some I'm really not at liberty to share as things are currently still developing.

But I thought it might shed some additional light on the idea that this was somehow an issue of red-lining the soundsystem.

[Micjones]

Originally Posted by mikeyis4dcats.

why are ou speculating? just call your buddy and ask.

He has a business relationship with Cordish he's likely not going to want to jeopardize by providing inside information to what transpired.

it's simple contractual terms....there typically is a cancellation penalty and typically reimbursement of costs (substantiated) to date. Typically this could not exceed the full consideration of the contract, so worse case Cordish paid the full contract amount, would have saved some marketing and associated costs, and a tremendous amount of bad PR. Then they could have sought to book a more Cordish-friendly whitebread act.

Again, none of us know how the contract was drawn up or what it entails.
All of it, my side included, is pure speculation.

But yeah, it makes more sense to go ahead and pay for the show, all the associated costs, and then cancel it halfway in and dream up some excuse and weather the PR storm.

I'm sure Cordish is sweating bullets over the very same criticisms that have followed them at their developments across the country. Yet they still see fit to maintain the same policies that've come under fire elsewhere. Yeah...they give two shits about the bad PR they're so accustomed to at this point. And Black people who are swearing off the district permanently. BAAAAAAD for Cordish.

[thebrad84]

Originally Posted by Micjones

It's not a perfect storm.
Any such code, discriminatory or otherwise, will always affect those for which it was not intended. That's the nature of the beast.

I have only read the first four pages on this thread, so perhaps this has already been mentioned by someone else in the other 5 pages, but I have to say this:

Can't this statement be used to explain why you see this dress code as simply only targeting young, black males? That is to say, perhaps the dress code was created by Cordish Co. to ensure that the gang culture and violence that it is so well known to come with would not become a part of the night life crowd at the P&L, but unfortunately with doing so has included many otherwise gang and violence free subjects that choose to dress in a similar fashion as those the code sought to keep out?

[Micjones]

Originally Posted by mikeyis4dcats.

btw, do you also find it amusing that mic thinks your last name is Sauto?

Doesn't matter that that's typically what posters here at CP call him.
But again, that's where you always fail with flying colors.
If you did half as research as you did typing you might stumble into saying something substantial one day.