Iverson To Meet With Protesters

PHILADELPHIA (AP) â€” Allen Iverson planned to meet Tuesday with civil rights groups that have objected to his rap album. <br><br>``The purpose of the meeting is for Allen to personally, face-to-face,

Tuesday, October 10th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

PHILADELPHIA (AP) â€” Allen Iverson planned to meet Tuesday with civil rights groups that have objected to his rap album.

``The purpose of the meeting is for Allen to personally, face-to-face, hear and address some concerns that the various groups have,'' said Iverson's attorney, Larry Woodward.

Members of the Martin Luther King Jr. Association for Nonviolence and a handful of protesters demonstrated outside two local radio stations Monday to speak out against the album and ask the stations not to play it.

``What we're concerned about is the children,'' said C. DeLores Tucker, president of the association.

Iverson's unreleased hard-core rap album ``Non-Fiction'' has been called anti-gay, anti-women and overly violent by its critics.

Woodward announced that Iverson would meet with Tucker and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He declined to say where and when the meeting would be held, but said it might also include members of the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Tucker and about a half-dozen protesters focused on two local stations Monday: WUSL-FM and WPHI-FM.

WUSL News Director Loraine Ballard Morrill said her station had not yet received the album.

``Just like anything, you can't say you won't play it until you hear it,'' she said.

WPHI-FM has been playing a prerelease of one track from the album since last week. Station manager Darryl Trent said his station edited the track called ''40 Bars.'' The unedited song is peppered with references to women, blacks, gays and gun violence.

Trent said the station has played the edited track so that listeners could decide if they like it. He said listener feedback so far has been mixed, but that overall the song doesn't seem marketable.

``The marketplace itself is saying 'So what?''' he said. ``Our whole purpose is to play things people want to hear.''

Iverson released a statement last week apologizing to gays and women who might be offended by the lyrics on the album.