Kansas City DJ explains controversial name, fallout over club on Current Landing
Casio McCombs’ dream of opening a hifi lounge in Kansas City was so close. He had signed a lease and was aiming to open this coming fall.
But his future quickly crumbled after a social media uproar over the name of his business, Sundown HiFi, fueled by an Instagram post from KC Blue Crew, the KC Current’s official fan group called for KC Current Leadership and Palmer Square Real Estate Management to change the name of Sundown HiFi.
“The use of the name ‘Sundown’ for a dance club is not only racist, but incredibly insensitive to the history of the area in which this team resides,” the post said. “Missouri has had a particularly violent history of sundown towns so it is especially disturbing for a team located in Missouri to chose to name a nightclub establishment for people to gather at on its grounds, after dark, Sundown Lounge.”
A sundown town was a label for white cities or towns that practiced a form of segregation using violence, intimidation, and hostility toward people of color, especially African Americans. Signage would sometimes be posted outside towns warning that Black people there after sundown would be in danger.
Discourse on social media ran rampant, causing Sundown HiFi’s first post on social media be defending itself and explaining the vision behind the concept, something McCombs wasn’t expecting. Things may have been different had KC Blue Crew and others taken a bit more time to understand the concept, he said.
“I think if we were able to be a little bit more tactful and have our rollout preferred, a lot of this could have been avoided and a lot of the misconception behind the intent would have been corrected before there was even time to see or assume that it was racist,” McCombs said.
For him, the dark racial history sometimes associated with the word sundown was not the reason he chose the name, though he does believe reclaiming it is important. He said he saw it as celebrating that time of day when it gets darker and when cultures typically socialize, celebrate and listen to music.
The idea of dimming the lights came from an old professor of his, who would dim the lights and have students listen to a record because lowering the ability to see he said helped with hearing.
“Sometimes people close their eyes because it allows them to really just focus on the taste buds, so same thing for your ears. I think that was something I really enjoyed, the idea of the sun going down under this natural part of life, became a time when all the other senses become a little bit more heightened,” he said.
Black ownership in KC hospitality space is already low, he said in his Instagram post after KC Blue Crew’s post. The project was meant to be more than a bar, it was about representation, creating space and reclamation. It was not going to ignore history, but confront it. A concept, he said, that was not widely understood or accepted by some who claim to value equity and inclusion.
Who is Casio McCombs?
McCombs, a Black musician and DJ, has been living in Kansas City since 2014, and devoted much of his career to introducing unconventional music into established spaces and opening the door for people of color to participate in spaces they may not have initially felt welcomed in.
One big move for him was being a part of normalizing rap, reggaton and hip-hop music inside coffee shops to better reflect the KC demographic. Thou Mayest, when it was in The Crossroads, invited McCombs to DJ every First Friday. He was also the first Black DJ at Monarch Bar by the Plaza, and later became the head of their music department.
McCombs said he has had a lot of private conversations about the announcement for Sundown HiFi that have been overwhelmingly positive, and a mixed bag since the announcement. Praise has come especially from those who knew about what he has been doing ahead of time, and knew his background
“There are people that do know me and do know that I was working on this project and knew the name and everything, were like, ‘we’re really excited for you. We think it’s great,’” he said.
McCombs ideally wanted to introduce the concept to the public and break down the name Sundown HiFi and explain the creative decision behind it, which was celebrating that time of day and how the darkness can heighten one’s auditory senses.
“I’ve had so many great memories around like being able to watch the sun go down with friends, listen to music, hang out, be in these communal spaces and just really understand what that vibe is, and how the sun going down isn’t the end of it’s the end of the day, but it’s the beginning of the night,” he said.
How the announcement unfolded
Though McCombs knew that Current Landing was going to publish a press release about the spot, he initially planned for a rollout closer to the opening date to avoid a long promotional phase and to wait for some of the most integral elements of the concept that were tied to the build schedule.
Within 72 hours of Current Landing announcing the future opening, McCombs posted on Instagram that he was stepping away from the project. He had always anticipated for there to be some discussion around the name, but not to this degree.
“Before announcing the concept, a lot of the conversations were very positive and a lot of people were kind of looking for the opportunity to support it because they knew what it could potentially do in the city and the bigger picture behind it,” he said.
The decision to step away, McCombs said, was his own. He had conversations with Current Landing and investors and came to the conclusion that the concept couldn’t exist as it was at the time.
“I wish there could have been just a little bit more context before the name got clocked down so that the name is understood through the intent. I think at that point the conversation there still would have been a conversation about it, I think would have been a lot different though,” he said.
The darkness behind the history of sundown towns wasn’t lost on the artist. McCombs spent a lot of his childhood in Bunnell County, Florida. He remembers being called the n-slur in school and seeing Confederate flags flying shamelessly. There was even an instance when he and a friend were chased out of a white neighborhood. He argued that the association a word can have with something else shouldn’t have this much of a hold when the intention is otherwise.
“How much power am I going to give to somebody to say they can use two words, one word, a syllable, this or that to control my emotion, control how I’m going to move forward in my life?” he said. “I understand the action behind words, and I understand the words as they sit by themselves. And to me, it’s like, if you’re gonna allow the word to always control how your emotional take towards it, then unfortunately, they’re winning. “
McCombs did say he now wishes he worked closer with developers to retain more control of how the project would be introduced.
“With the timeline that the developers were working within, and considering that the Current Landing social following was sub 900 followers at the time, I was hopeful that there would still be an opportunity to execute a rollout that fell more inline with my creative vision,” he said in a statement Thursday.
“At the end of the day, art is art, and there’s always gonna be someone who feels good, negative, positive, neutral about it. And I think the name is a part of the art, just the way the intention of what we’re doing in the space is,” he said.
What KC Blue Crew knew when they posted on social media
In the Current Landing press release sent March 27, Sundown HiFi was described as a listening lounge and bar where every element is deliberate and intentional. Music would become the focal point that guides the energy in every room. The name was described as carrying the warmth of gathering and golden hour that turns into midnight, when the real atmosphere begins.
Conversation was designed to flow easily, inspired by communities historically gathering at dusk by firelight. Sundown HiFi was made to tap into that feeling.
This was the release where KC Blue Crew drew their information from before posting their statement.
“I think if they had any bit more context or information on the situation, I don’t think (KC Blue Crew would’ve) posted like that,” he said. “If you look at that statement, it was like, ‘anything with racist intentions.’ How can a Black man opening a bar be racist towards Black people? “
KC Blue Crew have disabled the comments under their statement. They have not responded to The Star’s multiple requests for comment, nor did they reach out to McCombs voicing their concerns before or after posting, according to him.
KC Current and Current Landing declined commenting to The Star about Sundown HiFi.
Next steps for Casio
Casio plans to continue working on his long ongoing project, More Than Friends, an ongoing pop-up DJ project throughout unconventional KC spaces. Though circling back to Sundown HiFi isn’t out of the picture. He’s grateful for the ongoing conversation surrounding reclaiming the word and hopes to revisit the concept down the line.
“I think there’s nuance in everything that is around us. Jumping to conclusions or reacting before having information can be damaging, not only to the people that you’re reacting towards, but even to yourself,” he said.
This story was originally published April 3, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
