Cordish pulled the cats tail. Looks like it might require stitches.

Remember when you were little and you would do stupid shit just to tempt fate? You would do something on a dare, or if you were particularly dull witted you might stick something in an electrical outlet, maybe pull the tail of the crazy neighbor lady's cat. You did it anyway, even though you knew that mean one eyed son of a bitch would retaliate by scratching you every where except the bottom of your feet. You kind of new better, but did it anyway, only to act all shocked and shit when it blew up in your face. Well that's what happened to the corporate wobble heads who booked D.J. Jazzy Jeff to perform at the Power and Light district. The difference is that these morons should have known better, they aren't 12 year old boys.

*** I'd like to assure my readers that after this post I will never utter the words Jazzy Jeff again, I honestly feel silly just writing it.****


A little P&L District primer for those not from these parts. The P&L district is a string of over priced eateries and bars, crowned by a big turd of an arena that looks like a disco ball. If anyone was out to kill me I would hide in the P&L district as it is the last place on earth anyone would look for me. Anyway, the P&L district has been shrouded in controversy over a dress code aimed at young black guys, or more accurately , young guys who wear size triple X T shirts, baggy pants, and well, um, okay, it's aimed at young black guys. The idea being , if you keep out all of the people who look and dress a certain way, then you wont have problems from the bad element that also dress that way. Is it racist? Yea,, it probably is. At the very least it's discriminatory, but I could really not care less, as it doesn't effect me directly. In other words, it isn't my battle to fight, Gandhi I ain't. My biggest beef with the P&L district is well documented. I think it's an eyesore, a drain on the city, and they raised a section of downtown that I grew up seeing. So any problems or bad publicity that comes their way is fine by me.


So here is the rundown on the huge race fed debacle that occurred Saturday night. Depending on whose version you buy in to, and they are legion, DJ Jazzy Jeff was about to blow up the half million dollar sound system, or the Cordish dummies got their J Crews in a cashmere wad because one of the guys on stage was grabbing his junk, or because they wanted DJ JJ to play something less black, or because the Cordish guys are all racist sheet wearing hillbillies, or....... the list goes on, and the truth is probably a little of each version all rolled in to one big shit sandwich. What you can bet your FUBU or J Crew on is there will be some fallout, there will be cries of racism. There will be a whole lot of accusations and threats, and then..........nada, nothin, zilch, zero. There will be writers who try to sound all street, Holla Jenee, and compare a trivial incident to some kind of major civil rights violation. There will be writers who will take the side of the P&L district, because lets face it, ad revenue is too vital to the sustainability of our news outlets. In the end nothing will change. Racism and discrimination is in the eye of the beholder. If one beholder is sporting a gold log chain around his neck, and the other beholder is holding a big fat wad of ad dollars in his manicured mitt, guess which eye will win.


The real question to this molehill that wants to be a mountain; Why would Cordish book a Hip Hop act in the first place? That's the Fiddy thousand Cent question. Anybody? No? Well, allow me to break it down for you. Some douche bag in a power suit came up with the bright idea to book a safe Hip Hop act. I imagine the conversation going something like this.

Biff : We really need to do something to squash all the allegations that we are trying to keep black folks out of here.

Skip: Any ideas? Other than actually welcoming the coloreds?

Biff: Lets book DJ Jazzy Jeff !

Skip: Did he play with Mel Torme?

Biff: He was Will Smiths partner.

Skip: Will Smith is gay?

Biff: No, his musical partner. Fresh Prince. Everybody loves the Fresh Prince. Will Smith never curses, his clothes fit, and I don't think he has ever been pinched by the five O for splittin the wig on his ho for comin up short on his scrilla.

Skip: Huh?

Biff: Trust me, this idea is golden. Me and my frat bros loved Will and Jazzy. They are black guys, but they are like PG rated black guys. Besides most of our patrons under the age of 30 are pissed off at their parents, and go out of their way to embrace the coloreds hip hop lifestyle. They will flock like flies to honey. We cant lose.

Skip: I don't think they go by coloreds anymore. What the hell, book em.

My guess is Biff won't be booking anymore acts, at least not for the P&L district. It boggles the mind, why anyone who has gone out of their way to deny entry to a certain section of society, would turn around and invite the very people they banned, only to find themselves caught up in more racial controversy. I don't buy in to the "it's because we are black" theory, at least not in this case. Whoever booked Jazzy Jeff certainly knew he was black, a hip hop artist, and self proclaimed 25 year legend. I'm betting it was a combination of fear that they were going to screw up the sound system, and when told to turn it down, egos and posturing got in the mix, Jazzy stormed off, and created a shit storm on twitter. The problem is that even the utterance of a hint of racial discrimination is enough to create an issue.

Go look at Justin Kendalls piece , then go look at Jenee Osterheldts over wrought, melodramatic missive. Check the comments, the racial divide is as wide as Mick Jaggers mouth. That shit sells. But here's the rub, between those two articles, there are at least a couple hundred comments expressing outrage at this grave racial injustice. Now go look at any of the countless articles about some innocent bystander being killed, or any of the countless stories about some real injustice, I promise you these commentors will be nowhere to be seen. My point, people are ready to bum rush the P&L district over the accusations of some D list has been, while they remain mute over the real issues that effect their neighbors on a daily basis. A molehill that is becoming a small mountain. Somebody should have warned Biff not to pull that cats tail.