As Eli wrote earlier, a convocation of Seattle’s hiphop leaders—about 25 artists, promoters, and producers—squeezed into the back booths of Moe Bar last night to hash out a response to the shooting at Chop Suey. After an hour and a half of off-the-record deliberation, the group elected to hold off on any public statements for now. “Essentially, we decided to be prepared for a backlash, but also be ready to intelligently respond,” says Wyking, founder of the Seattle Hip-Hop Summit Youth Council.

Although the press coverage has been largely neutral—many reports have omitted the loaded words “hiphop” and "rap"—the backlash already exists in blog comments. “People who write blogs reach conclusions” that hiphop is the cause of violence, says George Yasataki.

But hiphop leaders argue that the shootings stem not from the music, but from conflicts that exist outside the venues as part of a rising trend in urban youth violence. People with disputes can conflict anywhere—in homes, on the street, or at crowded events where people congregate. Blaming hiphop shows, they say, is scapegoating. “The worst thing that could happen is what happened to the Las Vegas hiphop scene,” says Logics, a producer for Street Academy. “The mayor said no more hiphop shows in Vegas. That would just be terrible here.” When violence occurs at Bite of Seattle, the Torchlight Parade, and shopping malls, he says, nobody suggests shutting them down.

The discussion after the meeting bore mostly on the hiphop community’s potential role in making events safer. Jennifer Petersen—a producer for Sportn’ Life Records, which produced one of the acts at Chop Suey that night, Fatal Lucciauno—was at Chop Suey during the shooting. “Something in our community needs to change,” she told me. "It is our responsibility completely.”

After the meeting, six guys huddled around a long stand-up table next door at Pike Street Fish Fry. In somber tones, they described steps that the city, media and local hiphop community could take to make showes shows safer. G-Prez, president of Sea-Sick Records and the Black Teamsters Union, suggested modifying a gang task force. He suggests street officers could help kids stay out of trouble, in part, by resolving disputes. “We might know who has a beef with whom, but we’re not going to go talk to them,” he says. The men suggested that an SPD training for nightclub workers be free for music promoters, placing squad cars in front of clubs, and increasing security in venues.

Others people suggested creating community safety standards and identifying safe shows with some sort of seal on the poster. “Promoters need to be held accountable to protect these hiphop goers,” says Sonny Bonoho.