DJ Jazzy Jeff Update Kansas City Show
The event, part of the national Bacardi B-Live tour, took place at The Kansas City Power & Light District, a public-private entertainment venture supported in part by tax dollars, with a history of racial controversy, including dress code issues. It makes you wonder what the hell is going on in KC.
Jeff later talked to the Kansas City Star to give a more thorough version of the story, claiming: “My road manager walked up to me and said they were having problems with the music I was playing. I played three more songs and he comes back. I knew something was wrong. They said I had to kick touring rapper 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.”
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L34R, that doesn’t quite ring true.
L34R, you are a part of a very small minority of people that seem to be interested in defending the undefendable actions of KCP&L, so you probably are somehow affiliated with the company.
In fact, Cordish Inc, the company that runs KCP&L, can’t seem to get its own story straight.
Before I get into the excuses KCP&L has for the obvious truth of what really happened, let’s touch on the subject of the sound system. There were three sound technicians in a booth far back in the crowd that were responsible for making sure the sound system wasn’t going to break, it was in no way *at all* the responsibility of any artist playing that night. Any sound engineer with even the least bit of experience knows that the sound engineer is between the artist and the system, and it’s his responsibility to limit and pull the plug.
Now, onto the KCP&L wagon circling. Apparently Cordish Inc.’s corporate rep Zed Smith has a *conflicting story* to Jon Stephens’ (manager of KCPL) explanation. CLICK HERE: http://www.fox4kc.com/wdaf-story-dj-jazzy-jeff-cordish-060909,0,6344404.story Zed Smith says the reason was due to crude lyrics and gestures by MC Skills, the MC working the crowd during DJ Jazzy Jeff’s set.
Regardless, somebody is lying, there is a cover up, and there is far more to this story than the official version. Z-Trip, the artist who played before Jazzy Jeff, claims that he too was told not to play hip hop, which was a demand that he ignored. CLICK HERE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joshua-glazer/jazzy-jeff-booted-from-ka_b_212714.html So you have two major and respected artists confirming it, I was there I saw what happened, and the hip hop community in Kansas City already knows the history of racial tension with KCP&L.
Do a little research. P&L officials simply wanted Jazzy Jeff to turn down the music. His engineers pushed the sound system past its limits and were asked four separate times to turn the volume down. In the end, they wound up destroying nine of the twelve high frequency drivers in the sound system.
As a professional sound engineer, I’m more than willing to cut power to any jerk who destroys my equipment. Especially when they’re supposed to be “trained professionals.” In this case, P&L didn’t cut power, Jeff walked offstage. He’s lucky P&L staff haven’t billed him for the $9,000 in drivers they destroyed.
I was there and I confirm what happened. Jazzy Jeff, we apologize for the KCP&L’s short-sighted and foolish actions. I enjoyed your set as did the rest of the crowd.
KC Live! is blaming Jazzy – yeah right.