A Friday night concert and fundraiser for the Music Resource Center headlined by three local rappers—YG the Truth, J dot and Lee Banga—was cut short after the audience erupted into a fight minutes after midnight. Police responded to the incident within minutes.
According to the MRC’s outreach coordinator, Damani Harrison, between 100 and 125 people came through the doors through the night, and four security guards were on hand. "There was no precipitating incident. It just kind of happened out of the blue. There were rogue elements there who no one knows, who wanted to make themselves known."
"Mainly, we had a stellar event that was scheduled to end at 1am, and went all the way until 12:30, when one incident occurred," says Harrison. "Nobody involved with putting together the event, performing at the event, or guest or members of the Music Resource Center were involved with the problem that occurred; in fact, no one knew who they were."
"By the time the police were here, nothing was happening," says Sibley Johns, Executive Director of the MRC, who was there earlier in the evening. "Obviously, we’re a young people’s organization with young people who make all kinds of music. Our goal is to keep kids off the streets and out of trouble. The guys who were performing had been excellent students here and wanted to do this to help the Music Resource Center out.”
"We called the police just to make sure everybody was safe going home," says Johns. Harrison says no police report was filed.
Read a C-VILLE cover story on local hip-hop here.
