Casinos and ACLU parse Sheriff's Letter on Gangsta Rap
February 24, 2006 | 8:07
am
Yesterday Senior VP of Public Affairs Alan Feldman of MGM/Mirage called the Buffet to clarify that the Nelly appearance at rumjungle at Mandalay Bay was neither something that slipped through the cracks nor an attempt to stand against authorities who have requested a ban on gangsta rap (we are leaving aside that only the sheriff considers Nelly to be gangsta).Q: Did you have any reservations about holding an event featuring Nelly?
A: None whatsoever. We have been looking at any number of different kinds of acts for an awful long time and have developed, often in conjunction with law enforcement, a security program that keeps the comfort and security of our guests first and foremost in everyone's mind. And, we have complete confidence in our ability to implement those plans and stage those events accordingly.
Q: So, do you consider gangsta rap performers off limits to your casino and clubs?
A: No. What we need to do is be prepared for whatever may come up at an event. It could be Jimmy Buffett; it could be the Rolling Stones; it could be 50 Cent or Nelly; it is just a matter of having the proper plan in place.
Q: So, you didn't perceive the sheriff's letter as saying you should not have these acts...
A: I think what we heard from the sheriff was an expression of concern that relates to events that frankly have nothing whatsoever to do with events or concerts, or anything up and down the Las Vegas Strip. It has to do with the incredibly tragic and unnecessary murder of a police officer (Sgt. Henry Prendes was killed responding to a domestic violence call by an aspiring rapper). These things are unrelated but the sheriff very understandably is concerned; he wants to protect everyone and he wants to be certain that his officers are protected and the public is protected. After what he and the department have been through he wants to make sure everyone is thinking about these things. I am not sure what the ACLU understands the letter to say, but what we got out of it is that if you can't handle dealing with these events then don't do them. I suppose there may be a reading of the letter that said 'just don't do them.' But our reading of it was to be sensitive to if in certain circumstances there are security needs that are different than other circumstances and that is not new. We have known that for a very long time. I feel our company is capable of assuring the safety and comfort of everyone.
Meanwhile the ACLU still seems quite certain of its interpretation of the sheriff's letter and has gone before the Gaming Commission to complain. The Review-Journal quotes ACLU attorney Allen Lichtenstein:
"It really doesn't matter whether there has been an attempt at an outright ban or merely an attempt to influence these properties (Strip casinos). We're still talking about action that is taken under the color of the law and is therefore government action that is, frankly, censorship."
(photo by Ethan Miller/Getty)
In laymen's terms, the message is "Sheriff, we casinos won't tell you how to catch criminals and solve crime, and you don't go telling us and our customers what is entertainment."
Posted by: RussBBinVegas | February 25, 2006 at 08:01 PM
The message is Casinos do not bring trash to your business.
Posted by: Leo | February 26, 2006 at 06:28 AM
Rap???Breeds nothing but idiots....how that can be called music is beyond me.....god bless Ray Charles and all of the black musicians that really played music.
Posted by: Jim | February 26, 2006 at 07:29 AM
Rap music is a disgrace and the way most of them act spit in the eye of there forefathers in music such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy, Count Basie,
who worked so hard on racial problems by writing beautiful music. They endured so much in a time where African Americans were treated as second class citizens, they did it with class, grace, and dignity.
And how are they repaid? With everything they stood against being thrown away with a blink of an eye.
Duke a dear friend of my family would have been ashamed and use to tell my father, "We have come so far as a race, not through violence or false hope, but through the beauty of Music. And what have the rappers done to music? Not a single one I would or could consider a true musician, And yet they say it's a cultural thing that is natural. I say that's crap. The African Americans in the Jazz era saw a 10 fold more in a judgement of there race and what they stood for. Being pursecuted daily about everything and yet they turned that into a positive and wrote about beauty. What do todays Rappers do, Call each other horrible names, treat woman as objects, rap about killing because that's all they see? BS! they can see a tree and a cloud and colors and everything else, they choose to write that crap to sell and to act cool and hip...That aint hip, that's lame...
Hip is Bird Charlie Parker wailing away at light speed on his alto, original, unique, Genuine.
Hip is Miles at the Newport Jazz Festival, he also loved painting...Rappers don't paint, they care only about materialism, gold, power and women.
I call all of them on there Bull Crap...
grow up try to see the positive instead of bullets and hoes...
Posted by: JC | February 26, 2006 at 02:45 PM
The great thing about our country is that we all don't have to like the same music or have the same opinion. You have the choice to listen to rap or ignore it.
Also, these great Black jazz musicians that are being praised, were not thought of as so great in their time. Many of the same criticisms people throw at Rap have been used to describe jazz. I agree that jazz musicians of the past have done amazing things with music, but some were also womanizers, drug addicts, and self-destructive individuals.
Posted by: A Thomas | February 26, 2006 at 05:23 PM
Man, I'm reading all this, and truthfully it's kinda funny. Funny as in why all these people are making these comments. I'm in my thirties and have listen to Jazz, Blue, R&B and the various type of rap. The silliness of all this is, that there are different types of rap. LL Cool J, is not considered by any means gangsta rap. So what's the hoopla. And for the comment that, rap is crap music. Who's to say what's music and what's not. That's like saying who's american and who's not. "Silly" Look, those guys paved the way for other's to do their thing. Does it really matter, that these guys don't play and insturment!!! It's like the they guy who can play like Micheal Jordon vs the guy who plays like Pee-wee Herman. Some people have the gift to perform other's don't. And if these so call people look closely, he will see lot's of women in these videos. And if it does not bother them, then why is everybody so uptight about it????? So I dont feel how the Sheriff can make such a statement. What does he feel that people would behave themselves better if Linkin Park vs Lucacris???. Sounds like somebody needs a reality check.....
Let's go back in history and see, who really started gangst rap, and put it out there for everybody to see!
Posted by: Kaidurrell | February 26, 2006 at 08:07 PM
Rap is not meant to be music, you idiots. It is poetry set to music. Whether or not you like it doesn't really matter. The generation that listens to it and supports it, are people just as important as you. If banning (censorship) is allowed for certain types of music, then what's next, banning certain types of people from the casinos. We call that racial-profiling.
In case most of you have forgotten, in the 50's, Elvis Presley was banned from radio and television because of his type of music and physical gyrations. And now you can not go anywhere in Vegas without seeing something with his likeness on it.
"If you don't know your history you're dammed to repeat it."
By the way, all rap isn't Gangsta, there is also Christian rap.
Posted by: la2sa | February 26, 2006 at 10:44 PM
Wow! Is this 1986? How are we still having this whole rap isn't music argument in 2006?
Miles, Bird, definitely hip and definitely had to cope with many injustices of racism, but though they tried to due it with dignity, it became too much of a burden and they got hooked on heroin, which became the drug of choice amongst bebop musicians.
No rapper today is a musician? You obviously have not heard Mos Def, Wycleaf Jean, K-Os, OutKast, the Roots, Q-Tip, etc.
At the very least, you have to admit that many rappers are good poets.
Posted by: Walter | February 27, 2006 at 03:25 AM
To thoes of you who defend rap music...maybe instead of lashing out at thoes who oppose it, you should concentrate on cleaning it up. Lav Vegas does not want the strip overrun with rappers. The crowd that follows them supports violence and trouble. And in that culture the only way to get respect(a concept which rappers have no true idea about), one has to cause trouble. It is 2006 and all rap music does is set the black culture back. So listen and buy the albums, you are doing a great service to a race that has worked so hard. You should be ashamed of yourselves........
Posted by: J smith | February 27, 2006 at 05:33 AM
Unfortunately, there will always be those who are against something someone else agrees with. this is just another instance. I would bet those who are against rap are probably those who did not grow up with it around them. People in general fear change. Rap is here to stay; check out Billboard charts for the past 14 years. You can embrace change, or fight it. the previous comment stating that the strip will be overrun with rappers truly made me break out in laughter; trust me, I guarantee you that you will not look up and down the strip and see ganstas and rappers 'running the streets'. Most of them are in California, and for good reason. As far as those who say it is not music; Download Audacity (a free computer-based mixer) and attempt to make some music. No, really, try. Better yet, go grab a cheap mic and try your hand at rapping. these folks are artists who have mastered their craft, and are just as much a musician as any other professional singer. as an amateur recording artist (I focus more towards Dave Matthews), I can say that those who speak with ignorance have not attempted that of which they de-ride.
Have a good morning all!
Posted by: Craig | March 03, 2006 at 04:31 AM
"Gangsta rap" has become a victim of its own publicity. Get a grip, real gangsters are a whole other world from the million dollar musical acts we're talking about. Can fights occur when you have large crowds of young people at a music event? Sure. Can security problems arise when some guy that made several million dollars effortlessly before he's even old enough to drink decides the world is his oyster? Definately. Does this have anything to do with the type of music? Of course not. The sheriff is managing to make himself sound like, at best, an out of touch old geezer, and at worst, racist. Either way, somebody should slip him a copy of the 14th amendment and underline the equal protection clause.
Posted by: Bo Raxo | March 03, 2006 at 09:40 AM