Muriel Bowser

Go-Go Music Is Back at Shaw Metro PCS After #DontMuteDC Protest

The Go-Go music at a Metro PCS store in D.C.'s Shaw neighborhood is back on the shop's speakers after growing community backlash prompted the company's CEO to intervene.

Days after a growing community response rallied around the #DontMuteDC slogan, T-Mobile CEO John Legere tweeted that "the music should not stop in D.C." and said he will instruct the dealer that operates the Metro PCS store at the corner of 7th Street and Florida Avenue NW to work with neighbors to compromise on volume.

"I've looked into this issue myself," Legere said on Twitter. "The music will go on and our dealer will work with the neighbors to compromise on volume."

T-Mobile owns and operates Metro PCS.

The music on the speakers outside the Metro PCS store are a staple of the Shaw neighborhood, where the blaring sounds of Go-Go, a music genre born in D.C., have played for decades.

But the store was forced to stop the music after a neighbor apparently made a complaint to the company that oversees the store.

Community residents and native Washingtonians noticed the change

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The hashtag #DontMuteDC spread quickly with thousands urging the store's management to bring the music back.

Prominent Washingtonians like Mayor Muriel Bowser, D.C. native Tony Lewis Jr., and activist Ronald Moten spread a petition urging T-Mobile to bring the music back.

And on Tuesday, a massive rally of protesters shut down 14th and U streets with hundreds peacefully demonstrating with live music. Rapper Wale, a D.C. native, was also there.

"It's something that we grew up with. It's a spirit here," one woman told News4's Derrick Ward on Monday.

"It's different. I miss it," another man said.

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