Midnight Sun: Kansas City's Power & Light District kicks DJ Jazzy Jeff off stage - Nightlife: Baltimore’s music, bars, clubs, events and night scene from Erik Maza - baltimoresun.com
Acclaimed DJ/producer/performer DJ Jazzy Jeff (pictured) was kicked off stage less than 30 minutes into his Saturday night performance at the Power & Light District in Kansas City due to a dispute over his music.
Jeff said Power & Light management cut his set short because he was playing hip-hop, according to this piece by Jenee Osterheldt of the Kansas City Star.
In the article, Power & Light officials said they pulled the plug on Jeff's set because the volume level threatened to blow out their speakers and Jeff's people refused to turn it down.
Power & Light is owned by the Cordish Company, which also owns Power Plant Live. In the past year or so, Power & Light has caused quite a stir among Kansas City's African-American community, who accuse the entertainment zone of having racist policies.
True or not, this little scandal is only going to make that perception worse ...
June 8, 2009
Kansas City's Power & Light District kicks DJ Jazzy Jeff off stage
Acclaimed DJ/producer/performer DJ Jazzy Jeff (pictured) was kicked off stage less than 30 minutes into his Saturday night performance at the Power & Light District in Kansas City due to a dispute over his music. Jeff said Power & Light management cut his set short because he was playing hip-hop, according to this piece by Jenee Osterheldt of the Kansas City Star.
In the article, Power & Light officials said they pulled the plug on Jeff's set because the volume level threatened to blow out their speakers and Jeff's people refused to turn it down.
Power & Light is owned by the Cordish Company, which also owns Power Plant Live. In the past year or so, Power & Light has caused quite a stir among Kansas City's African-American community, who accuse the entertainment zone of having racist policies.
True or not, this little scandal is only going to make that perception worse ...
This one quote in Osterheldt's piece really made me cringe:
"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 [MC] 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."
That's insane!
Together, Jeff and Will Smith won the first Grammy award for hip-hop. I can't believe Power & Light officials would book him there and then kick him off stage for playing hip-hop. But I don't buy the volume excuse either. I seriously doubt that Jeff was playing too loud.
Towards the end of Osterheldt's piece, she writers that venue officials (who aren't named) say Jeff's set attracted "the wrong element."
The wrong element, eh?
Hmm.
(Photo by Joe Corrigan/Getty Images)
"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 [MC] 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."
That's insane!
Together, Jeff and Will Smith won the first Grammy award for hip-hop. I can't believe Power & Light officials would book him there and then kick him off stage for playing hip-hop. But I don't buy the volume excuse either. I seriously doubt that Jeff was playing too loud.
Towards the end of Osterheldt's piece, she writers that venue officials (who aren't named) say Jeff's set attracted "the wrong element."
The wrong element, eh?
Hmm.
(Photo by Joe Corrigan/Getty Images)
Comments
I have a feeling its another case of the Media blowing something out of proportion and not reporting all the facts.
But I may be worng.
It is going from Bad to Wors and I think it is time for the NAACP to get involved. They have to know we are not back in the "slavery" days.
If people seriously think that Jazzy Jeff brings in a "bad element" then it is time to free the prisoners held unjustly all across America. I'm tired of racist white people and their "race card"
More like a house of cards tumbling into the sea....
Step 1. KC LIVE needs to get a sound engineer to run their music systems and if you are having a DJ come in, please update your limiters and compressors. Please use at least 1 brain cell.
As far as the commentary, and details. I haven't been to KC Live but I have been to clubs that said word for word exactly what I am reading.. (Hell entire clubs shut down for a month where I am at just to end hip hop music) Only to realize that big crowds = some form of drunkery and violence regardless of the music. As far as the dress code goes, I have DJ'd in large upscale high end establishments and rocked the best hip hop music all night but still had a dress code (even for myself) I guess if there is an area of high crime they presume that a dress code will fix it. Who knows if this is right. I enjoy dress'ng up in a suit and tie when I go out and so does hip hop icons like Jay Z, and P-Diddy. Whats wrong with looking good? If all they asked for patrons to dress up is that half bad?
On to Jazzy himself. Who knows what really happened, but to blame the sound system on the "DJ" is implausible, impractical, and erroneous. The DJ should never ever ever ever ever be in charge of the entire PA system for an entire venue. That's like asking the lead singer of Creed to "run your own sound" mix the whole thing yourself. Huh? That doesn't happen so to blame this on the DJ is crazy. I've DJ'd in many venues where the sound system sucked, or the live sound engineers were awful, and many where I knew more than the engineers themselves, but never has there been a venue where the DJ has been 100% in charge of the PA. Typically the DJ goes into the main mixing system where "THE VENUES PEOPLE" control the final mix. If that's not how its setup at KC Live then that's how it should be immediately. I hung out and saw Z-Trips set 2 weeks ago and his set is every bit as loud as Jazzy's. The only difference is that Z-Trip plays more hip hop/rock mashups which might have gotten him through his set unscaved. But if KC Live didn't know what they were getting with Jazzy, blame it on the prommoooottaaeerrr.
P.S. to assume hip hop is 100% any race is incorrect, i'm just as offended about him being pulled as anyone else, white, black etc.. If I get booked to play what I play and then they tell me to change up my style, I'm gonna be mad. Period. Lets ask Alien Ant Farm to play Tenacious D in a few weeks or better yet, pull them off stage for playing michael jackson... Lets be real. Someone made an incorrect move now the whole world is watching.
http://videos.kansascity.com/vmix_hosted_apps/p/media?id=4448644&f=mokas
Blacks shoot boycott them period!!!
Power and light will be short lived with this type of treatment
Big deal. Get over it.
They may go through some ups and downs but they will survive. Look at the Power Plant Live!
Yeah, right, If these were still the "slavery" days, this would be a non-issue. You wouldn't even consider ever getting into the place because you could expect to have the [crap] beaten out of you for trying.
Get real, there are certain aspects of Black culture that comes off as gutter class and even if it is only 5% of Black youth and young adults, they still are visible enough to ruin it for everyone else.
I'd bounce someone off stage for grabbing their crotch as part of the entertainment and challenge them for how loud the music was playing as well.