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Concert organizer Chris Hines describes beating


Rapper Lloyd Banks and three associates enter not guilty pleas to assault and robbery



By Ashante Infantry

Entertainment Reporter Published On Thu Jan 14 2010

Rapper Lloyd Banks has been charged with forcible confinement, aggravated assault and robbery after a dispute at a Kitchener hotel.





A half dozen years booking concerts and celebrity appearances have

yielded Chris Hines lots of drama, like the time the limo ferrying actress

Vivica Fox got lost or a venue neglected to stock turntables for DJ Kid

Capri. But none compared to the spectacle that unfolded last weekend

after the Brantford concert Hines organized for American rapper Lloyd Banks.



"I'm shocked; I don't understand it," said the 36-year-old Toronto native

of the beating he said he endured after being ambushed inside a Kitchener hotel room.



Nursing two dramatic shiners and limping from a sore thigh, the genial

Hines recounted the tale in an interview with the Toronto Star at his North York condo.



Banks (legal name Christopher Lloyd), 27, and three associates have

pleaded not guilty to charges of forcible confinement, aggravated assault and robbery.



The New York emcee, who spent four nights at Maplehurst Detention Centre

and posted $50,000 bail, returned to the U.S. on Wednesday.



His co-accused, road manager/DJ Shaun McGee, 31, and hypeman Tyrell

Cooper, 24, left the day before. Bodyguard Nicklas Sloane, 25, remains in

custody on an immigration matter.



"There's a whole rich story that surrounds the circumstances here that has

not surfaced and won't surface until we get to court," said Banks's lawyer

Patrick Ducharme, who expects the case to take a year to get to trial.



Meanwhile, Hines is still reeling from the aftermath: physical soreness; non

-stop phone calls and emails from friends and relatives; and online

comments that label him a snitch for getting the police involved.



But what's most troubling is the negative vibe from some scheduled acts

who believe rumours that the fracas ensued because Banks wasn't paid.



That could seriously impact Hines's livelihood booking about 200 concerts,

parties and appearances annually, for the likes of reggae artist Sean Paul,

rapper Nas and actor Shemar Moore.



"I've done parties where Jay-Z showed up, Mick Jagger, the Wayan

Brothers," said Hines, who dropped out of high school to work when he

became a father at 15. He was employed mainly at gas stations and car

rental agencies before a fortuitous introduction to rap group Onyx got him

into the music biz.



His association with Violator Management garnered opportunities to work

with rapper 50 Cent and his G-Unit clique, which included Banks, for whom

Hines said he has previously booked more than a dozen shows.



Friday's show was a rescheduled date at Brantford's Club NV from

December when Banks unexpectedly had to accompany 50 Cent to Africa

for a gig, Hines said.



But the night went awry. Taking the mike 90 minutes after his scheduled 1

a.m. slot, Banks introduced the first song but seemed disillusioned by the

lacklustre response from the crowd at the half-filled venue, Hines said.

The rapper quit the stage and returned to the hotel.



After quelling club staff and promoters' demands that Banks return his fee

(amount undisclosed), the 6-foot-4, 250-pound Hines said he was

confronted by four men when he got back to his hotel room. "I never

expected what went down to go down," he said. "I expected maybe people

were angry and I could understand that, but I wasn't expecting to be hit.



"After the first punch, it was like, `Okay, he's upset, disrespecting me a

little bit, but cool, I'm not going to be stupid.' I sat on my hands to show

them like `Hey, I'm not trying to do anything crazy.' I knew if I fought

back there was going to be no winning. When they hit me again, I fell on

the floor. Then it really started to hit me, `What the F is going on?'"



Despite hip hop's bad rap, Hines said this was unusual.



"I've never heard of anything like this happening. You can curse people,

maybe you don't talk to them again, but for it to get physical – nobody

was drinking and nobody was doing drugs. I think what really got this to

escalate was peer pressure."



When police were spotted outside the hotel, apparently summoned by

hotel security, Hines said his attackers returned his jewellery and wallet

and left.