"This city has fucked every club owner to ever have a Hip Hop/R&B format to their dance nights."

This is so true, but have you been following the story on Friday's shootout in Pioneer Square?

The Bohemian switched from reggae to rap a couple months ago, and the neighbors claim to have had nothing but problems ever since, culminating with 5 people being shot on Friday. Even Mayor Schell came out saying hip hop music is the problem (a spokesperson later recanted.) All those against the Bohemian claim the accusation of racism is unjustified because the club had a primarily black clientele before the switch. So black people are not the problem, it's hip hop music.

While it's certainly a flawed argument, it's also easy to see how they would jump to that conclusion.

I found it interesting that no one reporting on this shooting mentioned that a large hip hop show, Word of Mouth, went off without a hitch that same night.

Can you really expect them to find a distinction between different types of hip hop music?

RED
(after the initial reports, police later said the shootings were unrelated to the club, as reported below. Sort of.)

from www.seattletimes.com

Monday, September 25, 2000, 12:00 a.m. Pacific

Gang dispute spurred shootings, police say

by Nancy Bartley
Seattle Times staff reporter

To many, the lyrics are the violent theme song of life on the streets. But it was an isolated incident of gang violence - and not the music - that caused a shootout which left five men wounded near a hip-hop nightclub this weekend, say Seattle police.

In a news conference Saturday, Mayor Paul Schell and business owners blamed the Bohemian Cafe's switch from reggae to hip-hop music two months ago for creating an atmosphere in which nightclub patrons form unruly crowds outside.

But Seattle police spokesman Clem Benton said yesterday that the gunfire at 3 a.m. Saturday was an isolated incident related to gang violence.

The shootings occurred about an hour after the Pioneer Square club had closed. About 100 people hung around a nearby parking lot. Shortly after a police van pulled away, one shot sounded, then 14 followed. Five men, including the two gunmen, were wounded.

Yesterday, three men remained in intensive care at Harborview Medical Center - one in critical condition and two in serious condition. The two others were treated and released. The men's names were withheld.

A police official said the men belonged to rival factions of the same gang.

Police guards were at the hospital, Benton said.

Anthony Frazier, owner of the Bohemian, did not return phone calls yesterday.

But an employee at the Art Bar, in Belltown, said it hosts hip-hop music once a week without any problems.
Copyright © 2000 The Seattle Times Company

RED
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