Warning: session_start() [function.session-start]: Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent (output started at /home8/areweont/public_html/index.php:15) in /home8/areweont/public_html/wp-content/plugins/spambam/spambam.php on line 37 Are We On The Air?
Notice that the tagline for this blog reads: From The City Of Bridges and Beyond- So, with that in mind, we take a quick detour to NYC via London w/ some crusty freestyle sessions from Tony Bones.
I came across the following tracks while going through a cache of Stretch & Bob tapes from their heyday. Wish I would have listened to the advice of friends and labeled my tapes, at least mark the year. This has to be 95/96-Help me out Stretch! As a matter of fact-run over to Stretch’s blog here for more treats like this.
Anyway, what we have here are some of the illest punchlines I’ve heard from an MC since early Mad Skillz. Gotta love the line-”Like The Pharcyde, I’m Passing-Ya Mama”. Looks elementary in written form, but the way that Tony says it with his thick British accent is amazing. The folks over at Unkut put together are “where are you now” interview with Mr. Bones last year. A very interesting piece that goes into the short-lived battle for the “Live” moniker, between Mr. Live (Tony’s Partner) and J-Live. Guess which one is still around?
I knew that obsessively taping my radio programs would serve some purpose in the future. I am currently sifting through literally thousands of tapes, running the gamut from the old school Rite Aid specials (certron c-90) to the high-bias TDK joints I used towards the end of the cassette tape era. While on the mission to archive my shows for this blog, I came across a gem from local MC J-Flint that I completely forgot about. I hit rewind several times and immediately loaded up Cool Edit to preserve this chunk of niceness. The track, produced the Geeman-The Grand Ear is insane! Coupled with Flint’s sing-songy lyrics, we have a Pos K and LG (Good Combination), here. Check out the track in full stream + downloadable mp3, after the break.
Pick up KC & The Sunshine Band’s (or is it George McCrae’s) “I Get Lifted”, throw it in the SP-12, and add equal parts simile and metaphor. What do you have? Simply a Pittsburgh classic that heads still go bananas to in the club, to this day. One could liken it to the craziness that goes down when a Philly selecta throws on Tuff Crew’s “My Part Of Town”. I am talking of course about Mel-Man’s classic introduction as a solo MC (formerly part of the Hardcore Crew Collective) ” The Mel-Man”.
Released as a very limited (I’m gonna take a stab and say 500 pieces) promo pressing in 1991, followed by a full-length cassette “The Melman Delivers” shortly after. On any given day, you could hear Mel’s raspy heavy Pittsburgh accent emanating from various car stereo kickers. Mel even made a bass-heavy ode to his followers that pumped his music in their “Kickers”. My memories of Mel go back to my early days at WPTS. I vaguely remember holding headphones over his ears while he was rhyming in studio B. Not quite sure why he didn’t want to sport the headphones, maybe he just got a fade at Wade’s. Nope, that was actually Tuffy Tuff that was known for that catchy “I Get My Fade At Wade’s” jingle that bleesed the Pittsburgh airwaves, more on him later. Mel was performing with English Eddie, Love Letter, and the legendary DJ Double K. They had just released another Pittsburgh classic “The Crew Got Paid” in conjunction w/ the late Mel Plowden, and were up at WPTS to promote the single. Mel is from the Hill District, and the PTS antenna (high atop the Cathedral of Learning) was perfectly aligned with his neighborhood for full mega wattage. Also, WPTS had some sort of grandfathered non-commercial radio clause that allowed them to reside in the less saturated commercial radio band. These two forces combined gave WPTS a signal that was unprecedented for any college radio station.
Mel migrated to the west coast around 96-97 and began to work with Dr Dre’s aftermath camp. Co-producing Eminem’s debut lp w/ Dre and rhyming on the Chronic 2001’s, “Shittin’ On the World”. He has been pretty quiet as of late. Last I heard Mel was in the ATL but that has yet to be confirmed. Check our an exlusive Mel-Man freestyle session from the “Nightshift w/ Mike C on WRCT (1994) after the break + some other Mel/Hardcore crew rarities.
My involvement in the local college radio scene goes back to late 80’s. Somehow I convinced Ma Dukes to schlep my pre-pubescent behind to WPTS, at 1am mind you, and she did it all for my sincere love of the medium. Prior to working as a self imposed intern at the station, I would hunker down in my bedroom and create pseudo radio programs with dual tape decks (aka-the poor mans track recorder), hoping to bless the airwaves one day with my rhetoric. Guess one could say I was creating what we now call podcasts, albeit without the instant global distribution that the Internet has opened up. Years of listening to local heroes such as Melle “Mel” Plowden (WPTS) and Sly Jock (WAMO) paid off immensely. I was inspired by the best. These cats were pioneers on two completely different fronts, commercial and college radio respectively, but they were able to dually run the city, a feat that college radio hasn’t performed in many years. Hip-Hop was still a fairly new genre, it was exciting to watch it grow before my eyes (and ears).
With that said, One can come surmise what this blog is all about. I have amassed a large collection of cassettes over the span of the last twenty years, and this is my way of sharing them with those that have fond memories of the halcyon days of our beloved art-form. Coming from a single parent household, our family was quite nomadic, moving every 2-3 years. During those many moves, I’ve lost most of the archives from the early days of WPTS, unfortunately. Feel free to e-mail me (selecta@areweontheair.com) if you have any Pittsburgh radio tapes from 1980-1990. I will gladly rip them, burn them on a disc for you +post them on the site. Stay tuned for daily site updates and anecdotes from WPTS and WRCT jocks throughout time. And now, on to the program….
About
areweontheair.com was created out of sheer boredom + my personal ongoing challenge of archiving my massive cassette tape collection. I intened to update this blog on a daily basis. Please lambaste via e-mail (selecta@areweontheair.com) if you catch me slacking off. Cheers!
