Twista News

The Birmingham Music Festival has dumped rapper Twista, after the Jefferson County Commission threatened to withhold funding for the festival because of the rapper's lyrics. The Birmingham, Alabama News reports the event's organizers, City Stages, were forced to drop Twista from the Birmingham Music Festival line-up after the commissioners found the rapper's lyric to be foul, racially offensive, and demeaning to women. The commissioners threatened to withhold $200,000 in funding for the festival if their concerns were not addressed.

Twista's contract with the festival required that he perform a clean show but City Stages wasn't willing to take the risk. City Stages marketing director, Guy McCullough, said, "It is possible to have a clean rap show. We always strive for that. At a festival, people can wander from one stage to another, and we have always asked rap acts to do version of songs that are appropriate for everybody. I think the sense we got from our conversation with the Jefferson County Commission is not to ignore hip-hop, but let's get some acts that everyone can feel good about."

Ruben Studdard is scheduled to headline the Birmingham Music Festival which is scheduled for June 18 through 20.

In related news, Twista, Damon Dash, Kanye West, Common, and others were at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago on Saturday, March 27 for the Chicago Hip-Hop Summit which was held by the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network. Fans were forced to register to vote in order to gain admittance to the event which featured panel discussions on personal and political self-empowerment.

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