DJ Jazzy Jeff vs. the Power & Light District: An Eyewitness Report
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.
Scott Spychalski Click on photo for slide show.
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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