EAST RUTHERFORD -- Please, baby, no more parties in N.J.

After the latest tangle of fan melees, headliner no-shows and organizational gaffes stole the show yet again from hip-hop's mercurial Super Bowl, it's time to question whether the star-studded Hot 97 Summer Jam is truly worth its incessant hassles.

Some of the problems this year can be blamed on weather: The rap holiday lost nearly seven hours of performance time Sunday due to hammering storms -- a full slate of emcees set for the parking lot "Festival Stage" were lopped from the afternoon schedule.

But the real frustration for fans began once the show finally kicked off in earnest inside MetLife Stadium, around 9:30 p.m.

- A fan brawl in the floor seats sent folding chairs flying and listeners scattering just after Terror Squad finished its set.

- A team of State Troopers filed into the floor area to address the dust-up, and the house lights remained on for the rest of show, extinguishing some fire from the rest of the performers.

- Atlanta rap star Future, who was billed atop Summer Jam's lineup fliers, never made it to the stage, among other scheduled performers. The show instead cut off mid-track, around 1:30 a.m. to boos, and the thousands of remaining fans had just a few minutes to catch the night's final departing NJ Transit train. Of course, the trek from East Rutherford was a slow one.

The response from Hot 97 was usual corporate blather: "We share your disappointment that due to the delayed start because of the severe weather, as well as a curfew ... that we were unable to get everyone on stage tonight we had hoped would perform," an Emmis NY spokesperson said.

All of this follows last year's debacle, where altercations near stadium security gates yielded another police response -- this time with tear gas -- 61 arrests, and hundreds of paying fans kept out of the concert after the unrest triggered a lockdown inside MetLife.

What more needs to happen before Hot 97 radio, orchestrators of 23-year-old Summer Jam, considers an overhaul -- or complete elimination -- of this tumultuous festival? And at what point do MetLife's owners begin to value public safety over economics, and refuse this concert altogether?

None of this is to say hip-hop is exceedingly problematic -- I've seen my fair share of blood and bruises at rock, metal and even pop shows.

But it's become increasingly apparent that the show regularly billed as the largest hip-hop event on Earth has apparently become too overstuffed for organizers to manage, with too many sets to fit in its time slot. The free-wheeling volatility that sets Summer Jam apart -- fans revel in the anticipation of superstar surprise guests, like Kanye West and Busta Rhymes on Sunday -- spills too wildly into the crowd.

Seeing hundreds of concerts -- including those raging, death metal and hardcore punk shows -- I've never witnessed more disregard for security and rampant drug use than at this festival.

Then again, how can you blame fans for openly rolling joints when Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg are toking up on stage? Or how do you condemn fighting in the seats when Summer Jam's most memorable moments are its "beefs" among stars -- like 2001's ignition between Jay Z and Nas -- which usually imply violence?

Of course, chaos is part of the design for a massive concert like this -- which sounds exciting in theory, but of late has proved disastrous in practice.

Last year, I wrote on the necessity for more security at Summer Jam, and how mismanagement overshadowed what was otherwise an exciting night of music. A year later, a huge fight makes headlines again and here we are, considering what can be done about a festival lost in its own drama.

It's come to this -- MetLife Stadium needs to consider a break from its long-running partner and disassociate with this annual bedlam, before a full-scale riot breaks out.

Otherwise, it's not worth wasting a hefty chunk of cash -- the cheapest ticket to Summer Jam plus a parking spot ran about $100 this year -- to attend a show where your safety is not necessarily protected and the listed headliner is not guaranteed to perform.

Because this has unfortunately become Summer Jam's m.o. -- Mariah Carey or Nicki Minaj might show up on the fly, but a scheduled performer probably won't, like "3005" rapper Childish Gambino last year or more memorably Nas in 2002. And the fighting may extend to the rapper themselves -- see the skirmish among 50 Cent's crew on stage in 2014.

Perhaps Mother Nature was right to try and wash this mess away.

Bobby Olivier may be reached at bolivier@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BobbyOlivier. Find NJ.com on Facebook.