Chris Roberts
Darwin Sampson was livid after a fight at a March 2 hip-hop show left one of his staff members needing staples for a head wound after being struck by a bottle.
So livid, in fact, that the next morning the Frequency co-owner imposed a one-year ban on all hip-hop concerts at the West Main Street venue. “I’m pissed,” Sampson said at the time. “I don’t want to do this — I have to. My staff doesn’t feel safe.”
Once news broke online, hip-hop fans erupted. Some chastised him for blocking an entire genre of music based on the actions of individuals. A boycott was threatened, and some called him a racist. Others sided with Sampson, saying he had little choice in the matter.
Now that the dust has settled, Sampson is rescinding the ban and replacing it with a plan.
“I spoke too soon and threw the baby out with the bathwater. I was angry. Seeing someone get staples put in their head is traumatic. I made a statement, and it was a mistake, and I apologized,” he says. “I’m open to booking hip-hop again. Hopefully, some of these issues we’re having will begin to be addressed in the community at large.”
His plan requires more work on his end as well as increased responsibility from fans when they witness violence.
“I want to develop a booking process where there are several layers of vetting,” he says. “We’re going to move forward — meeting with promoters, rap artists — and we’re looking to develop the hip-hop scene as it matures.”
Sampson says audiences for other music genres tend to handle incidents better than hip-hop fans. “Any other fight I’ve ever had in this building, no matter what kind of show it was, people make sure the troublemaker is accounted for and held accountable. I’m not seeing that at these hip-hop shows when there’s been a violent incident,” he says, adding that he hopes to hold the first meeting to flesh out his plan later this month.
Pacal Bayley, a Madison native and platinum-selling producer who goes by DJ Pain 1, is experiencing déjà vu.
“We should be used to this by now. I’m used to losing venues all the time. I’ve all but given up on deejaying in Madison because of it,” says Bayley, who performed at the March 2 event. “People seem to have amnesia all of a sudden and don’t remember that this is how it’s been in Madison for decades.”
Sampson notes that his venue is one of only a couple that host shows for local rap artists who are just starting out, which is part of the reason for the uproar when he instituted the ban. “Those are the kind of artists that [the Frequency] should be supporting, [so the artists can then] move onto bigger venues like the High Noon [Saloon],” says Sampson. “We’re like a stepping stone for artists.”
For years, Bayley and others have been advocating for more inclusion of local rap artists at Madison venues through the Urban Community Arts Network, a group that hosts the annual Madison Hip-Hop Awards Show and promotes rap around the city.
UCAN vice president Mark “ShaH” Evans says the city’s venue owners are leery of hosting local rap shows because if there’s an incident like one at the Frequency, they could lose their liquor license, which puts them out of business.
Evans says that is a concern his group can’t shoulder alone: “It has to be addressed by the city.”
He first reached out to the city in 2009. Through UCAN and the Madison Arts Commission, Evans worked with Madison’s Alcohol License and Review Committee to establish a set of “Entertainment Best Practices,” which call for venue owners to thoroughly research performers and promoters, properly anticipate crowds, hire adequate security and market to a diverse audience. If the guidelines were followed and a violent incident occurred, the venue’s liquor license would be less likely to be put in jeopardy.
Mark Woulf, the city’s director of food and alcohol policy, says the ALRC adopted these best practices last July but hasn’t started distributing them yet to current or new venues seeking liquor and entertainment licenses.
The next step is for the city to create a task force to specifically address the lack of venue options for local rap artists and other musicians, a move that was recommended by the ALRC last summer. Gloria Reyes, the interim director of the city’s Department of Civil Rights, says that her department will house the task force and that staff will begin recruiting members.
“The Ad Hoc task force will be composed of 11 members appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the [city] council no later than this summer,” she says, adding that the task force will likely include a promoter, live music venue or manager, music venue property owner, musician/DJ, student representative, Madison Police Department staffer, and members representing ALRC and Madison Arts Commission.
Reyes says one goal of the task force is to increase the diversity of entertainment options for all residents. “We need venues that provide for cultural diversity in music that includes hip-hop, R&B and other forms of entertainment,” she says.
Evans is cautiously optimistic. “This can’t become a task force that gets created and nothing happens, because there’s tons of musicians that want to do shows,” he says.
More support of the local scene benefits not only fans but artists as well, Evans says.
“In order to make it in this business, you need a local support system because it’s where you get your start,” he says. “If you try to go somewhere else and don’t have the support of where you’re from, they’ll wonder why no one from your hometown booked you. That’s a red flag.”
The Madison rap scene is getting recognition elsewhere but has hit a roadblock here at home, he says. “We have rap artists from here who are getting featured in some of the biggest music websites and magazines in the music industry, but they can’t [get] a local show here.”
