Local gangster-turned-rapper Johnny Boy said the controversy made an already dispiriting local hip-hop climate (scant radio play, few venues to perform in) downright oppressive. "Casinos didn't book us that much anyway," he said. But soon, he said, clubs and bars began shying away from hip-hop acts. Calls weren't being returned. One anonymity-seeking producer claims a casino reneged on signed contracts.
But as the Thuggs ran through four songs whose unifying theme was menace—mess with us and you'll get lumped up or laid out, your choice—there were no cops waiting in the wings. Nor was there a peep out of club security, which kept eagles' eyes on the crowd of 200-plus. All in all, it was a peaceful night for what might have been the first hip-hop event of its type in a major casino since the sheriff's rap-ban comment. That fact was not lost on the beneficiaries.
"This is very big for local hip-hop," said Eric Aguirre, spokes-Thugg for the 7-year-old, Vegas-by-way-of-California Synful Thuggs. "It's good that they [security and casino management] are watching us. We've got to show everybody that we can behave in a professional manner. We're showing a different side of us."
Added Johnny Boy, a past member of the "oldest gang in Las Vegas," 28th Street (which he referenced in a song), "I hope this will convince others to take a chance on us. The people here [at Sunset Station] will be able to say that we had an event and there were no problems. Our music is for everyone. My music is gangster because I'm a former gangster. But the messages are about good, and we're about having good, positive shows."
Credit for the odd pairing of suburban casino and urban hip-hop—with the array of bling, braided cornrows, baggy pants and barely-there blouses, it was as if the crowd was transported straight from a Yung Joc video—went to Giovhana Topete, a 26-year-old Hooters employee/budding fashion designer. When the Hooters restaurant on Sahara closed, she moved to the Sunset Station's outpost. Close ties with the manager—"he knew that I'd been designing clothes for six years"; her line is called Estilo Giovhana—spun into a chance to use Club Madrid.
"I didn't have any barriers to getting the show," said Topete, who was born in Peru. "The folks at Hooters gave a good word [on my behalf] and casino management agreed."
Points get docked for the dead spaces in the event—the show started later than promised; it could've been more packed; and despite Johnny Boy's admonition about "all the beautiful women," the fashion show fell way short of America's Next Top Model. But that's nitpicking. There was lots of dancing and head-bobbing. The occasional gang sign was met with acknowledgment, not derision. Synful Thuggs' Aguirre certainly appreciated Topete's foresight, Sunset Station's willingness and his peers' best behavior.
"I'm very happy with the turnout," he said. "Other shows I've been at have had drama because of the lack of security. In casinos, we feel safer. Artists are safer in the casinos. Everybody is."