Ron Chane and Brad Franklin on Rap and Reconciliation

It all started with an apology.

Ron Chane, organizer of Fondren’s First Thursday, apologized for a music act that performed on Sept. 3 that wasn’t exactly family friendly. In Chane’s apology, he went on to say that no music from the offending party’s genre—hip-hop, although he did not specify in his original posting—would be permitted to play at the event in the future.

All.

Hell.

Broke.

Loose.

SoundCloud

Ron Chane and Brad Franklin on Hip-Hop, Race and #FFT

Ron Chane, organizer of Fondren’s First Thursday, talks about the fallout and lessons he learned from the recent controversy over hip-hop being played at the monthly event. Brad “Kamikaze” Franklin also weighed in. </div> Phillip Rollins, a DJ and business owner, blasted the move on his own Facebook page and kicked off a social media war of words that ate up a good chunk of a nice Saturday. Many people felt the decision was racially tinged because of hip-hop’s close association with African American culture. Chane said race never entered his thinking, and moved to put out out the fire. That afternoon, Chane and Rollins sat down along with Brad “Kamikaze” Franklin and Corinthian Washington, and talked it out for four hours. In an interview today at the Jackson Free Press offices, Chane again apologized for the decision he says he made under pressure. When he started FFT, Chane said he never planned to be in charge of booking and overseeing music acts and became overwhelmed. Franklin, who also works for the city of Jackson planning and promoting events, said one of the main takeaways from the meeting is that Chane needs help with FFT planning. From now on, all music acts will have to be vetted ahead of time by Washington. Chane and Franklin also dished on racism, gentrification and Jackson’s creative economy. Listen for yourself. We’ll be updating the story a little later.