DMX may be heading to court again, but this time
by the other end of the law.
Following his June 28th arrest on obscenity charges
at the St. Kitts Music Festival, the Ruff Ryder has considered taking legal
action against the show’s promoters if they decline to publicly apologize for
the melee.
DMX maintains that he had a verbal agreement
with festival officials prior to the start of his performance that there would
indeed be the use of "b*tch," "n*gga" and the ubiquitous
"motherf*cker" throughout his show.
And he’s armed with videotaped proof that he
did have permission to spit profanity on stage, as long as the curses were within
the context of a song.
In a transcription of the taped conversation
obtained from MTV, X and his entourage apparently smooth out the last-minute
details of his p####-mouth performance with festival organizers before the show
began.
Initially, it was evident that the St. Kitts
authorities were looking to censor DMX’s signature street style. "I can’t
do that," X said. Then he added, "OK, let me know now if [the curse
words] are good or not, because if there are any problems with me cursing, I
won’t perform."
"I don’t curse for nothing," he added
during the impromptu meeting. "But in the song, there are curses. So you’re
not going to arrest me, right?" The men then finalized the agreement with
a handshake.
DMX’s manager wants the St. Kitts Music Festival
organizers to personally apologize to his client as well as publicly admit their
fault to the press.
Profanity has been a big no-no on the Caribbean
concert circuit and an even bigger adjustment for many artists. Ja Rule, Snoop
Dogg, Foxy Brown and Beenie Man were all cited for their on-stage obscenities
at the Reggae Sunfest festival in Jamaica in 2001.