Encore? Did a violence-free Jay-Z show just save local hip-hop?
It may not have been obvious to those in attendance, but the Jay-Z concert at John Paul Jones Arena on October 25 made history.
For the first time, JPJ officials had booked the University of Virginia's plush $130 million arena for a hip-hop show. Not only that, the 11,000 people in attendance composed the largest audience ever assembled for an African-American entertainer in Charlottesville.
In a town where officials shut down the public schools rather than integrate them 50 years ago, a show with mostly white UVA students coming together with mostly African-American Jay-Z fans from outside the university had the potential to be a momentous event in Charlottesville's sometimes troubled racial history.
There was just one problem. Given last year's two incidents of gunplay following hip-hop concerts, the event also had the potential to be a night that could end in violence.
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