We already knew that Portland is kind of like that town in Footloose when it comes to hip hop. The old heads don't like it. They're afraid catchy rhymes and sick beats come with guns, sex, gangs and black people.
The secret is out, and national media is starting to get wind of it too. Here's a Buzzfeed article that does a good job of breaking down the criminalization of hip hop in Portland:
"Hip-hop’s struggle to thrive in Portland isn’t a new one. Cops there have linked violence and hip-hop for years. In August 2006, four people were shot in a parking lot about a block from the Roseland Ballroom venue following a Keak da Sneak concert. The incident prompted then-Central Precinct Lieutenant Todd Wyatt to tell the Portland Mercury, “It’s not a coincidence that all these shootings happen after a rap concert. We don’t want to say that because we don’t want to be labeled as racist, but if you line up the shows, and line up the numbers, there’s a correlation.”
The whole article is here.
