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If you've been hibernating, you haven't heard about what happened outside of Vinyl last weekend. The one and only E-40 -- one of my favorite rappers -- played a set, after which five people were shot on Broadway. It is always sad and disturbing when violence erupts in the music community. What surprised me more, however, was the public response. As I read the comments on various local online news sources, a theme emerged. Most of the commenters seemed to fixate on one of two issues: Regas Christou's reputation or the correlation between hip-hop and violence. Unfortunately, both of these concerns miss the point, in my opinionated opinion. And as we are about to enter into one of the biggest going-out nights of the year, New Year's Eve, I think it's worth a brief discussion.
Between the Darrent Williams slaying and this episode, Christou's clubs have been the subject of scrutiny. And while granted, some hip-hop has always had a violent edge, I think it's safe to say that what happened outside the club couldn't have occurred without handguns.
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