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.”

[blaise]

They finally took down DJ Jazzy Jeff.

[Brock]

Originally Posted by blaise

They finally took down DJ Jazzy Jeff.

Sir Mix-a-lot, you'd better be paying attention!

[Fish]

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.

Damn... this is absurd. It's not racist, the people just need to conform to wearing jeans and a regular shirt? You're a fool.

[doomy3]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

$500k??????? In a club sound system??????? How big is this place?

And IF (and I just cannot and do not believe that figure) they somehow spent $500k on a sound system, I hardly think they could push it to the point of destruction.

$500k? That's highly unlikely.

PS - Compressors and limiters would do nothing but alter the sound. They would not stop the speakers from being blown. Furthermore, all high end, digitally powered speakers and subs have automatic shut-offs, making this excuse moot.

It's an enormous outdoor courtyard type of thing in the middle of P&L. It's huge, definitely not just a club.

[Micjones]

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.

You're either trying to stir the pot or you simply aren't paying attention.
Most of the people I've spoken with today who have recently sworn off of the P&L District cannot at all be properly identified as "thugs". Hell, many of them are just as White as you are.

No one, myself included, wants to be subjected to violence.
There are ways to curb such violence though. And these discriminatory measures aren't always the perfect way to achieve that safety. Again, baggy pants don't indicate criminal intent. I've worn baggy pants and I've never been arrested in my entire life. I spent 2 hours in jail, once, for an unpaid traffic ticket and even then that's only because I turned myself in.

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.

I never would've imagined that you were this myopic.
Certainly there are no good people who live on Troost and Prospect.


I've lost a lot of respect for you today.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by doomy3

It's an enormous outdoor courtyard type of thing in the middle of P&L. It's huge, definitely not just a club.

That makes a little more sense but in that case, aren't noise ordinances in place?

I know guys that do sound for 2,000 seat venues in Vegas with $150k rigs. $500k is just overkill.

Thanks for the info!

[Iowanian]

You're walking in a parking lot at night, and you're going to approach 4 identical groups of men with the exception of dress code and posture.

1 The first group are in jeans T shirts, some tucked, some untucked, all wearing caps, but the bills on their college Ball cap is formed.

2. This group are wearing slacks, shirts and ties.

3. This group is wearing khaki pants and polo shirts

4. This group have large baggy pants, wife beaters and matching hats, turned to the side with flat bills.


Which group is most likely to cause trouble or include 1 person carrying an illegal gun or narcotic?

Mic, et al....Can you honestly say that you wouldn't be more aware of 1 group than the others?

[doomy3]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

That makes a little more sense but in that case, aren't noise ordinances in place?

I know guys that do sound for 2,000 seat venues in Vegas with $150k rigs. $500k is just overkill.

Thanks for the info!

I don't know if they really worry about noise ordinances down there. Who knows though.

[jidar]

Originally Posted by CoMoChief

I would go as far as saying that most of the black people complaining about this so called racism at the PL district, DON'T pay taxes. But thats just me.

Well I'm glad you cleared up your biggotry right away so we didn't have to waste time reading the rest of your dumbassed opinion mr. Duke

[Micjones]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

$500k??????? In a club sound system??????? How big is this place?

And IF (and I just cannot and do not believe that figure) they somehow spent $500k on a sound system, I hardly think they could push it to the point of destruction.

$500k? That's highly unlikely.

PS - Compressors and limiters would do nothing but alter the sound. They would not stop the speakers from being blown. Furthermore, all high end, digitally powered speakers and subs have automatic shut-offs, making this excuse moot.

That's precisely what compressors and limiters are used for.
To set thresholds that preserve the PA.

[Kyle DeLexus]

Originally Posted by Micjones

Given your previous comment about Black people who've found a way to circumvent the tax system...I'm not sure you're seeing much of anything. Seems to me that there's a huge tree in your line of sight. And that tree...is called ignorance.



I'm not a hoodlum. I'm a law-abiding taxpaying citizen of Kansas City.
And many of the other people decrying the imbalanced handling of patrons in a taxpayer-funded development are just like me.



Because God knows that baggy pants indicate criminal intent.
No chance troublemakers wear Dockers and Doc Marten's.

I think he has the idea that the majority of black men are drug dealers that don't pay taxes and carry around illegal firearms.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by Micjones

No one, myself included, wants to be subjected to violence.
There are ways to curb such violence though. And these discriminatory measures aren't always the perfect way to achieve that safety.

What would do to curb violence if you owned a huge entertainment venue??

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Agreed. Can we agree that dress codes can be a good thing then? They can be successful in keeping the riff raff out regardless of color?

Wait, are you calling me riff raff?

[|Zach|]

Via Pitch Blog

I was the MC there.My name is Skillz ..for proof hit me @ twitter.com/skillzva and Jeff didn't push any levels..we were told that they didn't want RAP music played after we started. The mgr's exact words to our road mgr was " we don't want TI played here" as we played Live Your Life feat. Rihanna. We played clean versions and I didn't curse or disrepect the venue or the crowd. We played Kanye, Neyo and Big Markie's Just a Friend..which are all top 40 or known records. I was told by my road mgr to annouce to the crowd why were were stopping. I asked why? And he said they said they don't want rap music played" I said you want me to say that to them " and he said yes. So I did. I said word for word " I have just been informed we have to stop because they don't want rap music played here" I said jeffs website address and we left. I dropped the mic( and that was the only thing that couldve been taken as disrespect). We went backstage and the Barcardi people apologized to us. I went to the side of the stage to speak to a friend. And the stage a guy walked up to me and said " why would you do that" I'm like " do what" " why would you turn the crowd against me" and I'm like " excuse me, who are you?" And he replied to the cops " I want him off the property" and I was escorted out. It was 30 people there with me when that happened.I left. Later that night we were told that " my posture " was an issue. They said I continued to grab my crotch and throw gangsigns. It was never an issue of sound. They didn't want rap music in their spot. And me being there dressed with my jeans and my hat on backwards telling peeps to sing the words to Neyo was too much for them. I'm sure they're thinking different this morning though.

What I think is...when they took on DJ Jazzy Jeff they saw how long he had been in game. The guy won the first grammy in 1989. They saw a guy who they was going to be playing old school hip hop. Someone made a joke about playing Winger but I think it was just that...they thought they invited an older guy that had a name to people bring that was just gonna play feel good hip hop classics not rap.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Micjones

That's precisely what compressors and limiters are used for.
To set thresholds that preserve the PA.

As someone who's been in pro audio for more than 3 decades, I'd say that's a strange way of using a compressor or a limiter. I could see maybe using a limiter on the 2 buss but a compressor?

And if you're talking $500k, you're talking about a Meyer Rig, huge Turbo Sound rig, a Midas board, etc. Hell, even Mackie SR450's have automatic shut-offs.

I'm sorry Mic, that just doesn't make sense.