‘Rap’ Group Won’t Be Part of Street Scene

The Los Angeles Street Scene on Tuesday firmly shut the door on the New York “rap” group Run-D.M.C.

A joint statement by Mayor Tom Bradley and Sylvia Cunliffe, chairwoman of the event, said the popular group--whose last Southland concert was marred by street gang violence that left 40 people injured--will not play this weekend’s two-day music and art festival.

Street Scene staff members and the group’s management had been discussing whether there was a politically palatable way for Run-D.M.C. to return to Los Angeles without risking the possibility that the group’s appearance would attract gang members to the crowded Street Scene.

As many as 1.5 million people are expected to clog the Civic Center on Saturday and Sunday to watch 350 musical performers on 20 stages and sample cuisine from scores of food stands.

Sabotage Claimed

Run-D.M.C., whose two singers specialize in rap music’s aggressive, sing-song lyrics, has contended that its Aug. 18 concert at the Long Beach Arena was sabotaged by lax security. Spokesmen for the group have defended it by noting that many of Run-D.M.C.’s songs have positive themes about staying in school and staying away from drugs.

Supporters have also pointed out that Run-D.M.C. has been booked to play a major New York benefit concert in October devoted to rallying opposition to the drug “crack.”

But Deputy Mayor Tom Houston said Tuesday that none of that matters.

“I’ll be damned if we’ll have them,” Houston said. Whether the Long Beach violence was the group’s fault or not, the city “would have to be crazy” to book the group, he said.

“We have no intention of subjecting the people attending this event to any possible threat of gang violence,” Houston said.

Houston angrily denied that the Street Scene had ever negotiated with Run-D.M.C., saying that it merely sent a routine letter of inquiry, the kind of correspondence that was sent to 150 other acts.

However, Street Scene organizers said they recently spoke to representatives of the band about two possibilities: a special performance condemning gang warfare and crack or an unpublicized “surprise” performance, designed to avoid attracting gang members.

Rock music concert promoter Bill Graham, who is running the New York anti-crack concert, said in an interview that he had no trepidation about booking Run-D.M.C. for his show but added, “There is a difference between something where people buy tickets and go into an enclosure” and a free event like the Street Scene.

“There are different kinds of precautions that have to be considered,” Graham said.

Witnesses said the disturbance at the Long Beach concert, where Run-D.M.C. was the headline act, began when members of black and Latino street gangs began brawling and then began attacking bystanders, forcing police to break up the show before Run-D.M.C. took the stage.