By Chris Richburg
As things continue to settle following a brawl at the 5th Annual Southern Entertainment Awards (SEA) weekend in Tunica, Mississippi, rapper Kia Shine is weighing in with his version of what prompted the fight between him and members of the Texas rap group TMI Boyz.
Rap Coalition founder Wendy Day spoke out on Tuesday (January 29) about the incident, that was reportedly the result of Shine responding publicly to comments attributed to Day about low first week record sales during a panel discussion.
"I kept receiving phone calls and emails in regard to Wendy Day bashing my CD sales and my current label status with Universal Motown," Kia Shine told AllHipHop.com.
The rapper said he received word of Day's remarks while filming the MTV Jams show Hoodfab in Miami.
"Wendy Day made statements about me having poor first week sales and went on to say that is why I was dropped from Universal Motown and that I was making Memphis artist(s) look bad because of this, and that I wasn't making any money for myself or my label," Shine said.
To date, he doesn't understand the motivation behind the comments.
Armed with pre-judgments about what Day said, Shine aired his grievances while presenting an award at the SEA Awards ceremony on Sunday (Jan. 27).
"I explained that CD sales are down across the board especially with rap, but that the real money was in the ownership of your digital downloads, ringtones, ringbacks and live shows. I explained that I owned all of those digital formats of my music and that I was making money off that. I said that I am too blessed to be stressed about some lady who is bitter about not making any money in Memphis."
Shine said that Day walked on stage while he was talking,"and tried to grab my arm and speak to me. She asked did she offend me with her statements, I responded ‘Damn right,’ and pulled away."
As they were talking, the rapper remembers being hit from the back, a reaction that he labeled as "a b***h move."
"Immediately after being hit, I begin to fire back at the three or four individuals that were around me. The person who passed the first lick, ran away, like a coward," continued Shine, who received help from his brother Dirty Fresh and friends Sonny Black and Jack Frost, before they were maced by the police.
"I understand why, because they didn't see the first punch that was thrown by the cowards. They just saw me and my team handling our business and getting the better end of the cowards that started the brawl. They threw me and my guys out, and that is the exact way it went down."
Those who are uncertain whether to believe Shine or Day's account of the melee will get a chance to see firsthand look at what happened when the Kia Shine releases his Kush DVD in March.