Federal judge blasts city officials' bid to block rap concert
By The Associated Press
08.26.02
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — A rap concert that was canceled last week because of concerns about violence went on yesterday after a federal judge blasted officials for squelching the promoters' First Amendment rights.
About 200 people showed up for the concert at the Sandcastle Stadium — well below the promoter's goal of 7,000. Several local rap acts played, but the three featured acts — N.O.R.E., Styles and Khia — did not perform, The Press of Atlantic City reported in today's editions.
The show was canceled Aug. 19 after a police memo indicated that N.O.R.E, also known as Noreaga, has associations with the Bloods street gang. The city and the Atlantic City Surf, the baseball team that leases the city-owned stadium, expressed concerns about potential violence.
But U.S. District Judge Joseph E. Irenas on Aug. 23 allowed the concert to proceed after the city and concert promoters struck a deal for increased security at the minor league baseball stadium.
Promoters had argued their right to free expression was being curbed.
"I felt that the activities — first of the city, then of the Surf — were not based on security," Irenas said. "They were based on disliking the message."
N.O.R.E. is known for raps that reflect a hard life, one that landed him in prison for attempted murder as a teenager. His song "Nothin'" is near the top of rap charts.
A memo from the Atlantic City police department said N.O.R.E. "has an established history of violence and gang affiliation with the Bloods."
Irenas, who has taught law school classes on free-speech law and has heard two other hip-hop related cases, blasted the memo and the police department that produced it.
"I would figure in a 440-person police department, you would assume someone's heard of the First Amendment," Irenas said.
Before hearing the Surf and the city's explanation, Irenas declared it wrong for them to cancel the show unilaterally.
Upon hearing that, city and Surf officials started negotiating with Platinum Link Entertainment, the Philadelphia- and Brooklyn-based partnership promoting Summer Fest 2002.
A local group known as Desert Eagles started the concert off yesterday, followed by more local talent and a group of young rappers from Crown Heights, N.Y., who called themselves LDL, or Livin' Down Low.
The concert began about three hours after its scheduled start time of 6 p.m. because of technical glitches, said Bill Rodman, an Atlantic City Surf employee.
The security agreement reached Aug. 23 called for Platinum Link Entertainment to pay $15,000 to cover 40 police officers at the concert. Those officers were in addition to the 30 private security guards that Platinum had already agreed to provide.