DJ Jazzy Jeff Kicked Out of Kansas City Club for Spinning Hip Hop
Black scrutiny is a bitch. I was on Twitter this morning after getting off work and saw a disturbing story that Jazzy Jeff 
was kicked off stage 20 minutes into his set for spinning Hip Hop. KC Live was the club where this went down in KC’s Power and Light District. The Cordish Co. developed, owns and operates P&L and just this past year released a statement about meeting and even exceeding standards regarding the number of women and minorities involved in construction: “The Cordish Company hosted a community meeting on Tuesday, February 20, 2007, at its downtown Kansas City office to announce that the Power & Light District has met and exceeded the minority and women business enterprise (MBE/WBE) goals set in the construction of the District.” I guess minorities and women can build the establishment, but ya dare not patronize the joint huh?
My mans Damon Smith over at TMCY was there in the flesh and saw the whole thing go down. Make sure you check out his extensive letter detailing the events. Please comment.
Here is Jeff’s tweet:
“HOW DID THEY KICK ME OFF STAGE IN KANSAS CITY FOR PLAYIN HIP HOP…I’M A 25YR LEGEND…THIS IS SOME BULLSHIT.” ~ from DJ Jazzy Jeff’s Twitter this Sunday morning (@djjazzyjeff215)
I’m @mizzzzo. Damon is @thismaycy.
Hoping to speak to Jeff to clear up any questions anyone might have. Not faulting the entire city here obviously, but it’s beginning to make sense after reading MOST of the comments following a Whitlock piece. I wonder what dude is gonna write about Hip Hop after the fallout this week. Obviously, there are a lot of Kansas Citians (a lot of whites are coming out against this in force) who might have been swayed by dude’s constant slamming of Hip Hop every damn chance he gets. Yeah, it’s all relative so don’t give me the “Don’t fault the messenger bs”. He’s making Hip Hop out to be the boogey man and some people are straight shook despite Jeff being one of the most chill people you’ll ever meet. I’m sure he’ll go Uncle Ruckus on us and simply say “Good riddance.”
Wow! This is crazy. The more things change. The more they stay the same.
Jeff is one of the more mainstream DJ’s out there. This is absurd.
This is complete bullshit.
Oh, and I’m sure Bitchlock will have something unimaginative to say on the matter. This is right up his alley.
WTF??!! Ah, hell to the naw!
Miranda,
You hit the nail on the head about Shitlock! He’s already noted that none of the more tatooed teams made it to the NBA finals as if that has anything to do with anything. Ask Dennis Rodman.
With all due respect, I don’t want to make this about Whitlock because he’s truly tangential to this story.
It seems to me that the issue is a bit more complex.
1) the Cordish company is a billion dollar enterprise that is privately-owned and is in its 11th decade of business. Cordish is a diversified company and they even own a film distribution business.
2) the nature of the public private partnerships that feed Cordish and the opportunities to apply significant pressure at the sources of revenues
3) the need for a coordinated response from the hip hop community to have white-outs in cities where Cordish does business.
that means Baltimore (their base), KC, and many other places because their reach is so extensive.
the white out must naturally extend to all of their businesses.
The other issue is that if folks are serious about this, an apology is neither necessary nor sufficient. If you ask a man to board a plane, leave his family, and make a public appearance, only to be humiliated in the centerpiece of the largest entertainment facility in the midwest ($850M project), you need to feel pain somewhere other than in your PR department. The Hip Hop community has the reach and power to turn Cordish into Texaco or Enron.
The name can and should be vilified to the extent that it is impossible for them to do business in this manner; impossible for them to create public/private partnerships in any place outside of Idaho or Montana; impossible for them to grow into a 12th decade.
Be viral. Shut ‘em down.
Hands down the Greatest DJ of All Time.
Complete bullshit.
I totally agree Temple3 but if dude doesn’t spin this the other way, I’ll be shocked. Just wanted to get something out there before hand for when the bell tolls.
wow.
I concur: shut ‘em down.
Lets recap the night…
1 DJ plays a mixture of hip hop and top 40.. loud enough for all of downtown to hear him…
DJ Exits the set.. in comes DJ Jazzy Jeff… I didn’t notice any change in the sound of the speakers but there was a significant change in the mood of the crowd… everyone was actually having fun.. even the BBoys took a break from trying to steal the lime light… about 10 minutes in to the set we get a PSA that ” Hey, they said we can’t play hip hop”
Next thing I know bags are being packed, laptops turned off, and the crowd starts chanting “BULLSH#$”…
Power and Lights follow up all of this by playing “Welcome to the Jungle” on the speakers and follow it up with country music from various artists of some lost generation… (to me this was intentional)
This is not the first time that we have been told that Power and Light has banned hip hop music. Several times in various bars we have made specific requests only to be told that they “can’t play that here”
I say the same thing the crowd said “BULL#$T%”
My advice to my people …If they can’t cater to you DONT SPEND MONEY DOWN THERE!
I expect the type of behavior displayed that night from the types of people that run Power and Light.. the thing that I dont understand is why black people stay and continue to spend money…
When someone shows you that you are not welcome.. believe them the first time.. dont’ spend all your money to figure that out…
Out of the many reasons they put out there none of them add up…
#1 they said that he blew their speakers.. if there was an issue with the speakers why did they allow another DJ to play after him?
#2 they said he played too much rap or hip hop. Then you have to ask why this was not a problem when the white DJ played.
#3 they say that they allow rap but not hip hop….what do THEY consider hip hop? and what is rap to them? THEY COULDNT TELL YOU. Besides that is the dumbest thing I have ever heard… but from their eyes I guess thats just another way to try and mask the reality of the situation…
They don’t want to play music that will attract a certain crowd.. that certain crown just happens to be brown and listens to hip hop
So please brown people take your green somewhere else!
Wuz there:
I would totally agree with your proposed resolution except for one thing: it’s a public-private partnership. There are public dollars in every inch of the facility and it is a cornerstone of regional redesign and development. So, it belongs to everyone.
I agree folks shouldn’t spend money until this is fixed — but walking away is not the answer in this instance. This is a stand and fight, shut ‘em down issue.
I received a statement from Z-Trip (DJ on before Jeff) that I sent over to Damon Smith of This may concern you because he was on the case first.
I’m trying not to take sides on this issue yet because I don’t know enough of the facts. However, this is a live recording of the concert. I don’t know about permanent damage to the speakers, but something is obviously wrong with the sound here.
http://videos.kansascity.com/vmix_hosted_apps/p/media?id=4448644&f=mokas
Yeah it was a camera phone. Even a video camera wouldn’t have an equalizer right?
Trust the sound wasn’t as distorted as what you hear in that video. Dude would have been thrown out by Uncle Phil way before that if it did.