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Wednesday
Wednesday • • March
March s 5, ?ni4
2014
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Hip Hop Shakedown
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began to engulf both the immediate blocks around the venue,
and inside.
In the book “Art of War,” mastermind general Sun Tzu
The enforcement action was what many in Portland’s hip
proclaims that “the whole secret lies in confusing the enemy, hop music scene see as on-going, targeted police harass
so that he cannot fathom our real intent,” and on Saturday, ment of rap shows.
at the Blue Monk there was certainly confusion injected
Over 20 officers from the Portland Police Bureau as well as
between the grooves of Hip-Hop that were meant to be the
a Portland Fire Marshal ended up being at the Blue Monk that
star of the night.
night. The authorities said they went to the entertainment
Three of the biggest homegrown Hip-Hop acts in the city, site initially over concerns about possible gang affiliations,
Luck-One, Mikey Vegaz, and Illmaculate, were billed to but then escalated their response over fire safety issues
headline an intimate stage at the restaurant and entertain because it appeared the downstairs venue was overcrowded
ment venue located at Southeast 33rd and Belmont.
and they couldn’t get a radio signal or cell phone connection
The sold-out show however was brought to an abrupt halt to reach 911 dispatch.
once Illmaculate took the stage, stating that he would not
The fire marshal, Portland Fire Bureau inspector Rob
perform as a result of the ever-swelling police presence that Cruser, talked with the Portland Observer on the night of the
Show comes to abrupt end
after police swarm club
event.
He said he personally counted 135 bodies in the perfor
mance area. An official police report quoted the tally as “at
least 120 people in the room;” and the Blue Monk website
said they have a capacity of 100 in a cabaret-style setting.
Cruser denied that there was an effort to shut down the
show, but said he did require that the crowd get thinned down
to a legal capacity.
“I didn’t shut down the show off immediately, which I
could’ve done,” Cruser said. “I wanted to work with the
promoter to see if we could keep the show going.”
He said he picks a “handful” of shows to check in on
nightly, and Saturday’s inspection was random.
continued
on page 5