I love Latina women
Veteran
what's the scene like out there? atmosphere wise, diversity etc? 
anybody here from pittsburgh, pa?
- Thread starter I love Latina women
- Start date
A lot of crime. Many different cultures due to Pitt (university) and all of the hospitals. The city is unique compared to other places Ive lived, but not necessarily in a good way. Majority white city and they tend to be racist, as Im learning more and more. I cant wait to get back down south somewhere (Im from Pgh though)
Money Be Green
Superstar
Cac city. I got fam out there
KyokushinKarateMan
Train hard, fight easy
Pretty much what I hear about it all the time as well, and that it's very "mid-western" in vibe/culture
DeuceZ
Li pitit gason
man the burgh aint bad...it has a small town kinda vibe but i enjoyed my years there... 
Captain Crunch
Veteran
*L*E*G*A*C*Y*
Done.
Born and raised in Pittsburgh. I'm actually here right now taking care of family and will be back in NYC in January...but.
I've always thought there were mad great rappers out of Pittsburgh.
I remember seeing Wiz Khalifa open up for Mr. Complex in 2005...I've met him on many occasions and my one boy used to sell him weed back in the day...but that's another story. Then he opened up for NAS the next time I saw him...then he was doing his own shows.
I've actually met Mac Miller many times too...the first of which was back in 2009 when he went by E-Z Mac.
IMO, the best rapper out of Pittsburgh is without a doubt BLACK SUN. Seriously. He has tracks that are better than other people's ALBUMS.
The scene is different now. The Shadow Lounge was really the main catalyst for the Pittsburgh hip-hop scene now. I remember doing events back there and DJing there from 2006-2010 and I have nothing but love for them cats (I was hosting a radio show on WRCT from 2008-2010 and did a short stint on WPTS 92.1 doing a mixshow in 2007/2008)...Justin, Tim...they helped to give many rappers in Pittsburgh a platform when no one else would or when other venues would only focus on big name rappers. Like Strict F.L.O.W. (LOL...Saez aka Pittsburgh Slim came from that group and Jay Z signed him to a short lived Def Jam deal in like 2007/2008.) or Lone Catalyst (shouts to J Rawls). Or Joe Beast.
Unfortunately, I always felt like the Shadow Lounge gave way for the current gentrification of East Liberty...which might as well be called New Shadyside. Which is why I was sad to see that place and AVA close. There wouldn't be this "new" Pittsburgh without the Shadow Lounge and AVA.
They brought more than hip-hop to the east end...they brought culture to the spot. Especially considering Time Bomb (shouts to my man Brick Diggler) was a hop skip and a jump away and that helped matters too. They were one of the premier graffiti and hip-hop clothing stores in the city and have been open since 1992...and it might actually be one of the innovating and pioneering stores in the streetwear world lowkey. They would sell caps, graffiti magazines like While You Were Sleeping, Can Control, and VHS graffiti magazines like Video Graf.
For a while from 2005-2011/2012 the shadow was where hip-hop was at in Pittsburgh. They held events like Rhyme Calihstenthics (SP?) which was like the Lyricist Lounge show, Classic Material, The Big Throwback...reggae nights where many of Pittsburgh's storied DJs in the scene like Selecta, Nuke Knocka, Nugget, Buscrates, and many more threw down.
Classic Material brought in heads like Large Professor, Pete Rock, DJ Premier, and Roc Raida (I was happy to see that performance from him cause it was one of his last performances...R>I>P)
Heads like Camp Lo, Murs, Maspyke, Kev Brown played at the Shadow Lounge. Really Pittsburgh was never really about big time rappers.
When Club Laga was open back in the day it mostly had WU-Tang affiliates and indie heads from Def Jux like EL-P, Mr. Lif, Aesop Rock, Cage, Camu Tao, Copywrite playing there...Pittsburgh has been moreso about indie rappers and indie hip-hop.
There were stores like 720 records (which now is located in Lawrenceville and operates as a record store and coffee shop), Brave New World (RIP), Hypervinyl (RIP) and they catered to a wide range of tastes from electronica to hip-hop and beyond.
Pittsburgh has been a real low key indie music city. It's roots are more in working class punk rock (I was into the punk scene here in the mid to late 90s and was even in a hardcore back from 1999-2001), but since it's small and people were more inclined to work together to bring ill stuff to the forefront there were many pivotal movements going on at the same time. It wasn't unusual to go to a rave in Pittsburgh back in the 90s and to see heads like KRS and Brand Nubian open up. Or to see a rock band like Everclear share the stage with DJ Spooky and a Fergieless Black Eyed Peas. LOL. Shyt. Even Eminem first got his start as a touring rapper here in 1999 at the now defunct Graffiti lounge...or was it Laga...I don't know...I'd have to ask some friends.
Now? As the music scene got more commercial and the city got more gentrified, that type of thing is in the past so to speak. The days when Jim Jones got ran out of Chemistry from Tha Govament and Ghostface had a run in with some ill heads in the Hill and got shot at seem like eons ago. That stuff used to happen organically in the 90s and 00s and now it seems like it doesn't even happen at all unless it's from some big name company/booking agency. It's just not the same...but shyt changes.
The number one thing I liked about it was the energy and opitimism many of the scene's participants had and still have. Right now, things are under the radar, but a second renaissance seems like it's just around the corner.
I've always thought there were mad great rappers out of Pittsburgh.
I remember seeing Wiz Khalifa open up for Mr. Complex in 2005...I've met him on many occasions and my one boy used to sell him weed back in the day...but that's another story. Then he opened up for NAS the next time I saw him...then he was doing his own shows.
I've actually met Mac Miller many times too...the first of which was back in 2009 when he went by E-Z Mac.
IMO, the best rapper out of Pittsburgh is without a doubt BLACK SUN. Seriously. He has tracks that are better than other people's ALBUMS.
The scene is different now. The Shadow Lounge was really the main catalyst for the Pittsburgh hip-hop scene now. I remember doing events back there and DJing there from 2006-2010 and I have nothing but love for them cats (I was hosting a radio show on WRCT from 2008-2010 and did a short stint on WPTS 92.1 doing a mixshow in 2007/2008)...Justin, Tim...they helped to give many rappers in Pittsburgh a platform when no one else would or when other venues would only focus on big name rappers. Like Strict F.L.O.W. (LOL...Saez aka Pittsburgh Slim came from that group and Jay Z signed him to a short lived Def Jam deal in like 2007/2008.) or Lone Catalyst (shouts to J Rawls). Or Joe Beast.
Unfortunately, I always felt like the Shadow Lounge gave way for the current gentrification of East Liberty...which might as well be called New Shadyside. Which is why I was sad to see that place and AVA close. There wouldn't be this "new" Pittsburgh without the Shadow Lounge and AVA.
They brought more than hip-hop to the east end...they brought culture to the spot. Especially considering Time Bomb (shouts to my man Brick Diggler) was a hop skip and a jump away and that helped matters too. They were one of the premier graffiti and hip-hop clothing stores in the city and have been open since 1992...and it might actually be one of the innovating and pioneering stores in the streetwear world lowkey. They would sell caps, graffiti magazines like While You Were Sleeping, Can Control, and VHS graffiti magazines like Video Graf.
For a while from 2005-2011/2012 the shadow was where hip-hop was at in Pittsburgh. They held events like Rhyme Calihstenthics (SP?) which was like the Lyricist Lounge show, Classic Material, The Big Throwback...reggae nights where many of Pittsburgh's storied DJs in the scene like Selecta, Nuke Knocka, Nugget, Buscrates, and many more threw down.
Classic Material brought in heads like Large Professor, Pete Rock, DJ Premier, and Roc Raida (I was happy to see that performance from him cause it was one of his last performances...R>I>P)
Heads like Camp Lo, Murs, Maspyke, Kev Brown played at the Shadow Lounge. Really Pittsburgh was never really about big time rappers.
When Club Laga was open back in the day it mostly had WU-Tang affiliates and indie heads from Def Jux like EL-P, Mr. Lif, Aesop Rock, Cage, Camu Tao, Copywrite playing there...Pittsburgh has been moreso about indie rappers and indie hip-hop.
There were stores like 720 records (which now is located in Lawrenceville and operates as a record store and coffee shop), Brave New World (RIP), Hypervinyl (RIP) and they catered to a wide range of tastes from electronica to hip-hop and beyond.
Pittsburgh has been a real low key indie music city. It's roots are more in working class punk rock (I was into the punk scene here in the mid to late 90s and was even in a hardcore back from 1999-2001), but since it's small and people were more inclined to work together to bring ill stuff to the forefront there were many pivotal movements going on at the same time. It wasn't unusual to go to a rave in Pittsburgh back in the 90s and to see heads like KRS and Brand Nubian open up. Or to see a rock band like Everclear share the stage with DJ Spooky and a Fergieless Black Eyed Peas. LOL. Shyt. Even Eminem first got his start as a touring rapper here in 1999 at the now defunct Graffiti lounge...or was it Laga...I don't know...I'd have to ask some friends.
Now? As the music scene got more commercial and the city got more gentrified, that type of thing is in the past so to speak. The days when Jim Jones got ran out of Chemistry from Tha Govament and Ghostface had a run in with some ill heads in the Hill and got shot at seem like eons ago. That stuff used to happen organically in the 90s and 00s and now it seems like it doesn't even happen at all unless it's from some big name company/booking agency. It's just not the same...but shyt changes.
The number one thing I liked about it was the energy and opitimism many of the scene's participants had and still have. Right now, things are under the radar, but a second renaissance seems like it's just around the corner.
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i'll call up wiz if that makes you feel better
*L*E*G*A*C*Y*
Done.
This is very true. Pittsburgh is overwhelmingly and damn near disproportionately white. It wasn't always like this though...this city is stil reeling from the population decline that came from the closing of the steel mills in the late 70s and early 80s.
After being in NYC for two years it's like night and day. I miss the diversity it has compared to the negative diversity Pittsburgh has. I'm in the burbs right now and me and my fam are like the only black people here...This city is too ignorant and redneck and people are just too obsessed with sports (cause there's nothing else to do). I can't wait to get back to NY.
Also, it's mad old people here too and no young adults other than college kids.
What are you saying? I'm from Beltzhoover so believe me, I know nikkas are here, but it's majority white unless you're in the hood
I love Latina women
Veteran
thanks for the feedback y'all, this helps a lot 
STEVE
MIami Beach on the check-in.
AVA didn't close, just moved down to oakland and is now combined with the Quiet Storm across the street from chief's. i haven't been since it moved but i lived around the corner for years and met my girl there 
justin strong is still doing good stuff for the community, they just had a shytty landlord. AVA and shadow were great venues.
justin strong is still doing good stuff for the community, they just had a shytty landlord. AVA and shadow were great venues.