Although bullets shattered glass and tore up upholstery during a shooting at Stillwaters, 250 State St., early Monday morning, many say the Madison-area hip-hop scene took the most shrapnel from the incident.
The shooting occurred at 1:37 a.m. during Stillwaters' hip-hop open-mic night following an altercation between two patrons.
According to Madison Police Department Sgt. Karen Krahen, a man was arrested Tuesday morning \for a battery that occurred in Stillwaters just prior to the shooting."" She added that though the subject was arrested in relation to the shooting investigation, ""no one had been charged in the shooting yet.""
However, Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said the man is the ""prime suspect"" in the shooting and added that the only victim of the incident, along with several others at the scene, were also arrested on unrelated outstanding warrants.
Stillwaters' managing partner David Ruedy said the confrontation at the bar between the two men was an extension of a fracas between the two a week earlier, adding that the prior incident was unrelated to Stillwaters and the ""fallout of a conflict that happened at another bar on the other side of campus.""
Ruedy said that while hip-hop is certainly not to blame for the fight and subsequent shooting, hip-hop open-mic night at Stillwaters has been effectively discontinued.
Hip Hop Generation representative Patrice Sultan said she sees both the shooting and the unwillingness of local establishments to host hip-hop events as a detriment to diversity in the Madison community. Sultan said the stigma of violence surrounding hip-hop artists and fans deters the genre's integration into Madison.
""What [the shooting] means for Madison's hip-hop scene is actually quite negative on a larger scale because so many of the bars around [the city] have decided not to [sponsor] hip-hop anymore, because they're fearful of violence,"" Sultan said. ""[The trend against hip-hop stems from] incidents like this, racism and because they don't want that kind of crowd in the downtown area.""
Hip Hop Generation is a student organization that seeks to promote area diversity through spotlighting hip-hop artists and events. The group will be sponsoring a conference April 11-13 that will include a forum between city officials, bar owners, and area hip-hop artists and producers.
According to Verveer, several venues, most notably Mass Appeal, Paramount Music Hall and the Latin Club, were shut down by the city as a result of rap-related violence. Yet many area bar operators laud the benefits of hip-hop shows and say they will continue to support them at their establishments even after the shooting incident at Stillwaters.
Miranda Abernathy, bartender at Spices, 117 State St., said that hip-hop events held at the bar have been both safe and entertaining.
""The incident at Stillwaters was incredibly unfortunate and we really feel for them, but we trust the people we have promoting parties and doing different events here at Spices and will continue to trust them,"" she said.
Steve Kevil, manager at Angelic Brewing Company, 322 W. Johnson, said his bar will continue to hold hip-hop nights a few times every month.
""It would be really easy to cop out and say, 'Hey, hip-hop attracts a certain crowd and we don't want to take any risks.' But violence is not what hip-hop is about, and I think it'd be a big step backwards just to shut it off,"" Kevil said.
