Two days after an altercation involving Memphis rapper Kia Shine and members of the Houston/Galveston Texas rap group TMI Boyz, Wendy Day, the woman at the center of the controversy is coming forward to set the record straight.
The incident, which took place Sunday (January 27) stemmed from comments attributed Day who founded The Rap Coalition.
She made remarks in regards to low first week record sales during a panel discussion at the 5th Annual Southern Entertainment Awards (SEA) weekend in Tunica, Mississippi.
Offended by the comments, Kia Shine expressed his views on stage while presenting an award during the event.
“He chose to use the opportunity to air a grievance he had with me over something I had said on one of my panels two days previous, in which his name was used,” said Day, who admitted to being taken aback by Kia Shine’s remarks.
“He said some very hurtful things about me to a very public forum,” Day continued. “I have built my reputation over many years on helping artists, often for free, so it hurt me to hear him say that I had moved to his city and ‘raped its artists for money.'”
Day was so stunned by the Kia Shine’s tirade that she got up from her seat and moved to the back of the stage area in an effort to speak to the rapper about her comments alone, after he got off stage.
The rapper’s reaction was not what she expected.
“He chose instead to ignore me and not to acknowledge me until he was standing in front of his crew, where I had followed him,” Day revealed. “At this point he began screaming at me and because he was angry, he gesticulated wildly with his hands and did a lot of pointing.”
It was at this point that Day said members of the TMI Boyz responded to the situation, despite the fact that she has known Kia Shine for many years and never felt physically threatened.
“Members of TMI Boyz are not familiar with him and saw only a very large, very angry man behaving as if he may get violent,” Day said. “They reacted out of an instinct to protect a woman they felt was in danger; a blow was struck and Kia was hit.”
In all, Day said the ordeal lasted “only minutes” as security were summoned to escort Kia Shine out of the building once he started shouting at her.
Nevertheless, the show continued on without a hitch as the crowd returned to their seats to enjoy the rest of the evening’s performances.
Despite the ruckus, Day felt it did not put a negative light on what she called a “wonderfully positive event” that drew over 35000 people, a record crowd of artists and music industry professionals to Tunica.
