Ripped jeans. Gold chains. Oversized T-shirts.
These represent a small portion of the list of banned items at Kansas City's Power and Light District. After Saturday night's free concert featuring Z-Trip, DJ Jazzy Jeff and MSTRKRFT, many in Kansas City are wondering if hip-hop might be added to the list.
After two hours of trouble-free fun -- including a rousing one-hour set by hip-hop DJ Z-Trip that brought break crews to the front stage of the P&L District -- something strange and sudden happened.
Taking the stage a little after 11 p.m., DJ Jazzy Jeff tore into a set that had everyone from the P&L rafters to the ground floor collectively jazzed. In his limited time, Jeff and his hype-man, Skillz, blew through recognizable favorites such as Dead Prez's "Bigger than Hip-Hop," Lil Wayne's "A Milli" and Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin." The crowd was hype. That is, until Jeff's hype-man announced over the loud-speakers that they weren't allowed to play hip-hop.
Minutes later, confused patrons watched as Jeff and Co. unhooked their equipment and suddenly departed.
A bevy of police gathered at the stage and entrance of the District as many in the crowd shouted claims of racism and expressed frustration at the sudden halt of the concert. "They're fucking racists!" someone yelled.
I followed Jeff and Skillz out.
"They didn't want us to play hip-hop, man," DJ Jazzy Jeff told me as he crossed Walnut Street toward his tour-bus.
So what really happened? The KCP&L District's management claims that Jeff pushed the District's sound system too hard. But that hasn't kept people from echoing Jeff's own claim: that P&L, an area already immersed in controversy over a potentially discriminatory dress code, simply didn't want hip-hop.
At least one district employee seemed as surprised as the crowd.
"We've been told not to say anything," said a young man working the door of a P&L bar minutes after the show got shut down.
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Ok, I hate to say it, being a white person myself, but kansas IS racist! It pains me to see this stupid crap going on in a community that I've grown up in! Whatever happened, I hope Jazzy Jeff doesn't take it to heart....We love you Jazz and don't trip. These old folks who seem to be running PnL don't have the ties to you that we do! ;) Power and WHITE district is a racist comment as well, so don't cry about being treated bad due to your race and turn around and do the same thing! That's ignorance! And yes, I'm saying that its not about your color, its about your level of respect! Get some!
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did you people see what the fuck he was wearing. he was dressed as ghetto trash. and ghetto trash does not belong in there. why dont you wear your pants at your waist like you are supposed to and then you will be let in. sick of you guys pulling this race card all the time. grow up!
This is really sad. Maybe we should start a petition to boycott the sponsors of Power and White.
@ Let Me play on your gear
Hey Dipshit...yes, i know plenty about the principles of sound...I will guarantee you that you will NOT blow my $50,000 sound system....because if I owned one....I would properly protect it you asshole. What the F&ck does a square wave, triangle, or saw-tooth wave have to do with Jazzy Jeffs mixer.....he wasn't up there with an analog synth making his own music you dumbass. He was playing completely mixes songs....which consist of SINE WAVES.....which i guarantee were not going abovet unity...0 decibels because I am sure you don't know. I never opened a song in protools and seen song that consists of sawtooth waves....unless it was completely clipped and produced like shit.
Like i said above....if his mixer was too hot going into the main mixing board.....THEN THE VENUES SOUND ENGINEER SHOULD HAVE PULLED DOWN THE MIXING BOARD CHANNEL....AND THE MASTER VOLUME OF THE BOARD AS WELL.....unless he was an idiot like you. In that case, he could run up to the stage and tell him to turn down his sawtooth waves...moron.
Do us a favor and stop trying to spit jargon that is foreign to you. Go back to your bedroom and jerk off to your Star Wars action figures and leave the Tech Talk to the big boys.
i cannot believe that anyone identifying themselves as a dj is saying that Jeff probably just made an error in assessing his signal level. are you serious? thats like saying Jazz is a rookie, bedroom dj. you think this man doesn know how an audio chain works. his resume would clown anyone that has commented on this issue, including my own.
people here are HEAVILY underestimating the expertise of a man that has spun at an ELITE level for 25+ years. if you think his only worth was as will smith's sidekick and hasnt had success and respect of his own, you need to slap yourself.
even z-trip said the whole situation was b.s. on his twitter. are we gonna say he isnt telling the truth or doesn know what he is talking about either?
this is exactly whats wrong with kansas city entertainment right now. most of us think we know better than people that have done it at a higher lever in more competitive environments in bigger cities.
This is the first time in my memory that i have heard someone say Jazzy Jeff failed at running sound from his equipment properly. this isnt the first time ive heard about fuckery at the P&L
just sayin....
The Power & Light District in Kansas City is at it again- In a desperate ugly move the powers that be stopped Grammy award winning DJ/Producer Jazzy Jeff only twenty minutes into his set- for playing hip hop. Now the company controlling the venue has declared it was not about Hip Hop but rather, �it was completely about sound levels� that�s right, they claim Jazzy Jeff would hurt the speakers- you see Hip Hop apparently is bad for sound systems that are bought for white audiences-
I mean, why else wouldn�t the sound system be ready for Hip Hop? In the construction of the venue they planned to have no Hip Hop! Otherwise it seems they would have appropriate sound systems- sounds systems that play all music, I mean when making a venue it would seem that you would want the most popular music to be played, RIGHT? So we can come to the conclusion that they planned a �Black-OUT�, even before the first speaker was installed�
The Powers that be at the Power & White district claim they have �proven� a desire to play all types of music; after all they did book Jazzy Jeff- right?
WRONG, I believe booking Jazzy Jeff was perceived to be a �safe� choice by the powers that be at the Power & White district � I imagine they felt they just had to appease the restless hip hoppers so they THOUGHT that they had an easy choice. They probably did little research, they probably thought he would only play WILL SMITH, heck maybe big willy would show up- what a hoot!! Anyhow they somehow just pictured the goofy sidekick Jazzy Jeff getting thrown out the door by Mr. Banks- ( If your too young just Google Fresh Prince of Bel Air) So they assumed he would play, �Parents just don�t understand�, maybe some Heavy D & the Boyz- not Jay-Z. Someone did not do the homework, Jeff is still a lover of Hip Hop not someone stuck in an eighties friendly time machine. He is a DJ- you don�t tell someone like Grammy award winning DJ Jazzy Jeff to only play top forty� its like asking Kiss to only play �Nickel Back� You simply cannot put demands onto these musicians, playing music is their livelihood � If Jazzy Jeff played only top forty he would be playing birthday parties, not sold out venues throughout the world.
The Power & White district has failed when it had a good chance to shed some of its bad publicity- the dress code was a failure- It was a failure because it went too far, it made people uncomfortable- You see � If you place a venue in the MIDDLE of downtown KCMO � then tell the people who live there they cannot come because they don�t have the right clothes, well- that just might piss them off..
If the powers that be at the Power & White district wanted only people with certain clothes and certain credit cards then maybe they should have built it in Johnson County- it seems cruel to place a venue in KCMO only to tell its residents they cannot come in and we will not play your music.
I have been told that the sounds levels permanently damaged 9 of the 12 high end tweeters- If this is true then it just comes back to the idea that the sound system for the district was poorly designed and completely ignorant of the needs of Hip Hop acts- In other words they designed a sound system intended for the Jonas Brothers and Rush tribute bands. To develop a venue of that size without a sound system that can handle a little boom- well, that�s just ignorant. Maybe they will upgrade when they replace their precious, �high end� tweeters- maybe they got them at circuit city...
?
I will write more on this- I just had to put something together- In the meantime, just consider for yourself, ---
How Come they do not have any Jazz, Blues, Or Hip Hop clubs inside the power and light district- its not about demand- white, brown, & black people all love Jazz, Blues, and Hip Hop- after all we do have a THE Jazz Museum here in Kansas City? After All this is the land of Tech Nine and Mac Lethal- Kansas City is not to blame, Kansas City loves music of all kinds-
GO to Westport- go to 18th & Vine, go to Martini Corner- they love the music- these places thrive on diversity, these places better represent Kansas City- you can enjoy music and the people. YOu will not be asked to wear a tie or suffer through remixes of the shit you have to hear all day at work..
ALL kinds of music- they are not scared of the impending chaos� (I imagine the old fat decision makers watching a film similar to reefer madness- but instead its hip hop...)
yours,
The Smoking Platypus
www.myspace.com/thecandyflip?
NEVER DJ'D THE P&L VENUE BUT.I TOO HAVE HAD "THAT TALK" WITH ALOT OF CLUB OWNERS AND I'M SURE HE'S TELLING THE TRUTH.CLUB OWNERS WANT THE HOPPING VIBE OF THE CROWD BUT DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT MUSIC AND VOLUME LEVEL IT TAKES TO GET IT FOR THAT GIG.FOR THE P&L THIS GIG WAS A BAD IDEA.
@ DJ and Sound Engineer
You are so wrong. I will bet you i can blow your $hit up in under 5 min. You can use all the compressors and limiters you want. I can destroy your speakers. If i go longer I can melt your amps also.
Do you even know the principles of SOUND?
Sine wave, Square Waves.....etc???
Please go back to dj'ing your weddings and mixing high school plays.
The only thing that is 100% is your comments about sound make you a 100% idiot.
As a DJ and Sound Engineer....i know for a fact sound WAS NOT an issue. Having dj'ed in the P and L district...i know that race IS AN ISSUE. My dj friends and myself have had "that talk" with club owners....."no hip hop"...that is their belief 100 percent. They do have a very expensive system.....which IS and SHOULD be protected by Limiters and compressors to keep the system from blowing. You are not going to put a $50,000 system in venue.....and not protect it. that is complete BS. Plus, the venues sound engineers ultimately have complete control of the master volume...which keeps it from blowing speakers. The DJ might overload the channel on the main mixing board, but it is not going to blow the house speakers. The master volumes on the mixing board is controlled by the venues sound engineers. RACE IS THE ISSUE.....100 percent.
Fact is that there is just as many black people paying taxes as there are white people and other nationalities. It took ALL of our tax dollars to build the power & WHITE district. It seems like we can pay to build it but we can't go. This is ridiculus that we are in 2009 and still face racism. In an interview I heard a rep from the Cordish copmany state that his music was attracting the wrong element. I can understand that statement is the "wrong element" was a rowdy crowd. However, Dj Jazzy Jeff is an old school Hip Hop DJ not a new millenium rap DJ. The crowd had to be a mature over 30 crowd. Which are upstanding citizens, with children, people that go to work everyday. Not thugs and rugs that seek out trouble. I totally have a problem with that. White people act a fool too its just never publicized.
I bet he isn't even lying, maybe he just misunderstood what the problem was, It is pretty dark and very LOUD in there.
Obviously it was NOT hip hop, it was the SOUND.
Maybe he just took it the wrong way or totally missunderstood what the issue was AT THE TIME.
He immediately got pissed, and it may have just been a mis-communication.
Ive djed thousands of shows, they don't always go right, especially with sound systems.
Are we really going to put alot into the hearing accuracy of Jazzy Jeff? Which by the way is the ONLY thing Jeff has to back up his claim. PnL has HOURS of tape. Do the math.
Dude is probably near deaf anyway. They are just mixing on the Bass hits not the details of the treble...Maybe he thought the sound techs were saying "No HIP HOP!" but they were really saying "Levels are Hot"!
It could happen.....
As a Dj,I tend to believe their was a volume issue.Dj's don't want to turn it down.Its like censorship.But people don't understand how expensive equipment is and they surley would have blown some speakers if they kept going at that volume.No way is P&L sound system set up for such a gig with all the bass.They should have know that beforehand.
JAZZY JEFF HAS PLAY'D SOLD OUT STADIUMS ALL OVER THE WORLD -
HE COULD PROBABLY BUY KC POWER & LIGHT
WHY WOULD JAZZY JEFF LIE ON KC P&L?
IF I WAS KC P&L - I WOULD BE A LITTLE EMBARRASSED THAT YOUR SHITTY SOUND SYSTEM COULDN'T HANDLE TWO TURNTABLES AND A MIC -
Please read further explanation from Cordish here:
http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/20...
"The Thug element" as certain people call it dont hang out at the P&L never did never will, those folks down there were hard working paying cutomers. Thugs wont change for anyone so the crowd was not going to get out of hand in the first place. Let white folks be scared all they want its failing with out us anyway.
Anonymous:
Black clubs do enforce dress codes too. This particular incident has nothing to with the P&L dress code even though P&L has had issues in the past the dress code and African Americans. In my opinion it has to do with DJ Jazzy Jeff being black in one of the most segregated big cities in america. Jeff was playing hip hop and P&L began to think that him spinning any further would excite the crowd in the wrong way. People associate hip hop with African American culture, and that should be true, but also associate hip hop with ignorance and people (majority african americans) not being able to control themselves. So being a DJ and being an african american male it's sometimes hard to get gigs at upscale venues and clubs because management and ownership thinking the black Disc Jockey may ATTRACT the wrong crowd or his music may be conveyed in a different manor. I say this because my counterpart which is a white DJ, could spin the same music, and people would say, "The DJ is really mixing it up". Case in point, I went to P&L when it first opened in February last year to see DJ AM. He was spinning Lil Jon, Ginuwine, Jay-Z, and some other hip hop mixed with Rock, Country and some alternative music. DJ Jazzy jeff has been DJing for 25 years, and DJing is his 9 to 5, so I am pretty sure he wouldn't lie, use the race card and potentially ruin a relationship with a business partner (P&L) unless it was true.
I do not have a problem with the Power & Light Dist banning certain clothing or accessories. They are a private compny and you understand the mentality of individuals who wear such clothing. Also they are not the only plac in KC that does this, there are plenty of black clubs that enforce an upscale dress code to encourage a more respectable crowd.
I assume Jeff knew of the controversy and fell back on the race card to cover his sound guys disobedience of the rules.
Jazzy's sound, WAS HORRID......people were leaving because of the crap assed mixer control and Jazzy through a fit when the sound guys told him repeatedly to cool the levels.
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