news-record.com

Effective this week, N.C. A&T won't have anything to do with the vile-mouthed rapper Gucci Mane, who was scheduled to headline the university's homecoming concert on Oct. 31.

Odds are Gucci, or Mane, or however you refer to the performer on second reference, will still celebrate drugs, murder and gangsta life all the way to the bank.

The concert will go on, as planned, before a packed house at the Greensboro Coliseum -- only without any connection to A&T. The university has withdrawn its promotion of the event and removed its name (although it also should remove the word "homecoming" from the concert's title, which remains on the coliseum Web site).

The contract with the promoter, Diamond Life Concerts, has not been legally voided. But if the university makes any money from the event, said Dr. Mark Kiel, A&T's vice chancellor for development and university relations, A&T "will not directly benefit." Kiel said those revenues would go to a cause that's consistent with the values that "drove us from the concert in the first place."

A&T Chancellor Harold L. Martin Sr. rightly reconsidered the association with Gucci Mane, who flaunts gang colors, gang signs and gang themes in his videos and lyrics, which include such uplifting titles as "Murder for Fun."

Even in the hard-core world of rap, the artist is known for cold, remorseless themes that revel in cocaine and killing.

A&T had explored ways to void its contract with the artist, who has been arrested for murder (the charges eventually were dropped for lack of evidence) and served prison time for assault with a pool cue. The school also considered substituting another act, but it was too late, Martin said. "So we made the decision that we would remove our institution's name from all advertising, all marquees, all tickets, and we would withdraw financial support from the show so that we would not be in any shape or form associated with his message or his image."

The university should be especially sensitive to messages of violence given two murders of A&T students over the last two years and other shootings near campus. Yet somehow the school painted itself into this corner, again, by not learning from previous experiences with controversial homecoming headliners.

A new process is forthcoming, said Martin, who says the choice of performers poses the kind of question that ought to be debated on campus -- before the fact.

Of course, turning its back on hard-edged acts such as Gucci Mane is not without its costs to A&T: The concerts annually draw big crowds and make big money. More than 8,000 tickets already have been sold this year. But A&T would pay an even steeper price if it remained an active partner in such ventures: its reputation. Martin did the right thing.

Let Gucci Mane spew his filthy nonsense on somebody else's dime.