Hip-hop took a blow this week as Broadway Center for the Performing Arts administrators announced they were pulling the plug on a Rottweiler Records CD release party Friday that would have included headliner and hyphy pioneer E-40. BCPA officials report the show was cancelled after Tacoma police supplied them with pictures, gleaned from artists’ MySpace pages, of Rottweiler artists in the company of people TPD officers fingered as local gang members.



BCPA officials were shocked when the information was presented at a closed meeting last Friday, says BCPA Executive Director David Fischer. He emphasizes that neither he nor others in charge of the Broadway Center are opposed to hosting hip-hop shows. But the City-owned venue has to balance an aggressive effort to make the venue accessible to a more diverse audience with its commitment to public safety. It’s not about an assumed link between hip-hop and violence, he says. It’s about being surprised by images that strongly suggest some of the people performing have a penchant for guns and crime, or would draw people who do.



Fischer also emphasizes that BCPA investigations of E-40’s performance history turned up nothing of concern.



Rottweiler had only mentioned E-40 when they pitched the show, Fischer says. He would have received the offer differently had he known more about the proposed openers, and their apparent affiliations.



“I went into that meeting thinking there was no reason to shut the show down,” says Fischer. “It was only when we were given full disclosure about the people participating did we get concerned.”



Rottweiler Records organizers this week characterized the cancellation as an assault on hip-hop culture while calling for a rally outside the Pantages Theater, where the concert would have been held.



Rottweiler Owner Kyle Nephew says he was as shocked as BCPA officials were when he saw images of some of his artists in the company of what appeared to be local gang members. Nephew is careful when choosing his artists, he contends. He also concedes that one of   his artists is serving time, and a couple more have minor criminal charges. But none of them pose a threat. If they did, he wouldn’t work with them.

“If there is something serious going on with my artists, I want to know about it,” he says. “I want to know about it, and I want them off my label.”



Nephew also contends that Tacoma police officers inflated the significance of some of the images. Hand signs that Tacoma PD pegged as representing East Side Crips can also be seen displayed by elderly women at East Side Peewee Football games.

Nephew also doesn’t try to hide the fact that he knows gang members, and considers some of them his friends.



“I’ve known a lot of these guys since I was in third grade,” he says.



It’s unfair, however, to jump to the conclusion that collusion means he condones crime and violence. Quite the opposite, he says.



“If you grew up on the East Side, that’s the reality,” says Nephew. “I know six or seven people who have been shot in the last couple of years. There are gangs and violence on the East Side. But I’m trying to give people a place to do something positive. We want to give people something to do — a reason to come together and party. I know those pictures hurt us, and that they don’t show a good picture. But that’s not the whole picture.”



That said, Fischer says his venue cannot risk the possibility of someone being hurt, no matter how noble the promoters’ intentions.



“This isn’t about hip-hop,” says Fischer. “I believe there is a fantastic history of artistry in hip-hop. But I also believe there are artists who aren’t brandishing guns and celebrating the abuse of women. We are committed to diverse access. But I’ve got to make sure this venue is safe and secure for the community.”



Fischer says he is working to convene a public dialogue about hip-hop, its many facets, and its place in Tacoma. That, he says, will happen in the very near future.



“There is a bigger conversation here,” he says.