A brawl broke out between Memphis, Tennessee rapper Kia Shine and men reportedly affiliated with Texas rap group The TMI Boyz tonight (January 27) during the 5th Annual Southern Entertainment Awards in Tunica, Mississippi.
Witnesses told AllHipHop.com that Kia Shine took issue with comments attributed to industry veteran Wendy Day of Rap Coalition in regards to faking sales.
"Kia didn't take to kindly to statements Wendy [allegedly] made and decided to use the SEA stage as his platform to state how he felt," an eyewitness told AllHipHop.com. "Wendy immediately came to the stage to reconcile but, Kia wasn't having it and slighted Wendy going off the stage."
The witness said that as soon as Kia Shine exited the stage, a brawl broke out between the rapper and men allegedly affiliated with The TMI Boyz, who are based out of Houston and Galveston.
"People scrambled in the Grand Casino Resort," the witness told AllHipHop.com. "After everything cleared everybody, Kia was still standing."
The SEA’s, which have been in existence since 2004, continued without incident and despite the fracas, the weekend was labeled a great success for the Southern Hip-Hop movement.
Independent artists like Yo Gotti, B.O.B., J. Mill from The Source Magazine, Yung Texxus, Gorilla Zoe, Sparkdawg and others attended the weekend, which included conferences, networking sessions, concerts and after parties.
Kia Shine is known for his singles "Krispy" and "Wow," while The TMI Boyz are an independent group known for their single "Swervin'," which hit #1 on the Billboard’s Hot Hip-Hop/R&B Singles Sales chart.
The group is also preparing their debut album, Grinding For a Purpose.
