Black Dave Speaks Out On Being Assaulted By Security At Webster Hall
"Over-policing" appears to be the story of summer 2014 and it is becoming increasingly harder to ignore this trend, even within the space of music coverage. Even if you could forget the name Eric Garner and tune out the rising roar of Ferguson, Missouri, there is Devonté Hynes AKA Blood Orange and his girlfriend Samantha Urbani being assaulted by security at Lollapalooza music festival--and right here in New York, rapper Black Dave had his jaw broken by club security in July.
In fact, it may not be until you’re being pummeled by multiple thick-necked security goons that you even realize how over-policed clubs that have hip-hop events, specifically, tend to be. Numerous venues in the rap mecca fit this mold but perhaps Webster Hall holds the dubious honor of sitting atop that list. The experience begins with the rough, violating search patrons are subject to upon entry. “They said they smelled weed on me so they get searching me over and over again,” recalls one angry attendant. “Right in front of my girl they were feeling up my crotch… it was embarrassing.” Security's overzealousness went unrewarded in this case, as their demeaning search turned up not a single bag of weed (and it’s a good thing they didn’t. Webster Hall, Santos Party House and several other clubs maintain a strict policy of calling police to the scene if any drugs--including small increments of marijuana--are found on any partygoers).
Unfortunately, this is far from an isolated incident. Beyond the humiliation and poor treatment that is a regular part of the Webster Hall experience, your physical well-being may well be at risk--and frequent patron Dave in particular caught a bad one as a result of this meathead mentality. The skater turned rapper (he's best known for last year's Black Bart mixtape but along with Joey Bada$$, Flatbush Zombies and A$AP Mob, Dave has been putting young New York back on the map for a few years now) was attending a Thursday night party last month at Webster Hall as he often does. In the midst of the festivities however, he was asked to leave. As he was attempting to do so, he was dragged and pummeled and eventually kicked--until he was on the ground nursing a broken jaw. Outside, Dave was cuffed for “fighting” but was quickly uncuffed when police saw his jaw was broken and had nary a single mark on his knuckles to indicate him throwing punches in a fistfight. As previously mentioned, the incident occurred in July (on the 11th to be exact) but due to doctor’s orders to refrain from speaking for a spell, this interview had to wait until he was released from the hospital and his jaw healed up enough to talk. Dave tells his story below:
OKP: So what happened?
Black Dave: The whole situation started when I was hanging out with my friends, a regular Thursday night. One of my good homegirls--she goes by the name of Junglepussy--I went to check her out. It was cool, she had a really good show.
OKP: Was there any drama at the door with bouncers when you first got there?
BD: No I got in all right. I’ve performed there a bunch of times so people were cool with me and it was no problem getting in.
OKP: So what set it off?
BD: I watched the show with a couple of my friends and then we went downstairs to go check out some other party because they had multiple parties going on. So I had went on the stage, lounging out. I ask for the mic because there were a lot of my good friends in the crowd. So I asked the person on stage for the microphone. They’re like, No you can’t have the mic, this is my job, yada yada yada…. Jokingly I asked her again and before she could even utter out the second “no” I get approached by somebody completely screaming at me like, “You need to get the fuck outta here!” So I’m like, “OK, wait...I’m leaving with my friends.” My friends had gone to get drinks so I was alone. I get grabbed up ,so I tried to exit the grip and I was immediately pummeled. When I regained consciousness I was in the hands of multiple bouncers.
OKP: What was your physical state like at that point?
BD: My jaw was completely cracked in half and it was sliding around my mouth and there was nothing I could say, there was nothing I could do. I was immediately thrown into cuffs by police.
OKP: Wow. What did the cops do?
BD: The cops said I was fighting. I told the cops that there’s not one mark on my hands but my jaw is completely broken. They looked at my jaw and took me out the cuffs. And that was it, I was in the hospital. And here I am almost a month later.
Despite repeated attempts to get Webster Hall’s side of the story or at the very least a statement on their security staff and policy, Webster Hall remained unavailable for comment.