An ‘inside’ look at the music industry
by Rob Taylor Jr.
Courier Staff Writer
From the moment your favorite music artist announces their tour, you check to see if one of the tour dates is in Pittsburgh.
Yes, Pittsburgh it is. December 8, PPG Paints Arena.
Or, you hear that one of the hottest new rappers in the hip-hop game is coming to the ‘Burgh. October 30. At a new venue on Banksvile Road.
You instantly start planning for it. You purchase your tickets. You figure out what exclusive outfit you’ll be wearing.
And then you wake up, and realize, it was all a dream.
COVID has put those large-scale, in-person events like concerts and big club nights on a very extended hold.
DJ J-DOUGH, a DJ on Cincinnati radio station “101.1 The Wiz,” speaks to attendees at the “Inside The Industry” music seminar, held in March in the Hill District. Nigel McDaniel looks on. (Photos by Courier photographer Dayna Delgado)
Local hip-hop artists in Pittsburgh haven’t had the chance to perform in front of packed crowds since the coronavirus pandemic began in mid-March. But hopefully one day, this pandemic will all be over, and club nights and concerts can return. Hip-hop artists in Pittsburgh will be back to rocking shows and electrifying crowds.
Portia Foxx is the midday host on WAMO 100.1 FM. Before she ever was on WAMO, she hosted a local podcast and had intimate knowledge of Pittsburgh’s hip-hop scene. The well-respected radio host decided to take things one step further, when she presented to Pittsburgh an “Inside The Industry” music seminar at the Energy Innovation Center, on Bedford Avenue in the Hill District, to help local artists get to the next level. After all, all local artists want to, one day, become international superstars.
Portia Foxx told the New Pittsburgh Courier that attendees of the March seminar learned the business of getting attorneys, copyrights, “everything they probably needed to know but maybe not in a position to get it or afford it,” she said.
DJ RYAN WOLF, “Z 107.9” IN CLEVELAND
LONGTIME PITTSBURGH ON-AIR DJ “GQ”
Some of the panelists included Loody Boy, who is from Taylor Gang, rapper Wiz Khalifa’s music label; DJ Ryan Wolf, from Cleveland hip-hop station “Z 107.9” and the Cleveland Browns’ official DJ; longtime club and radio DJ, “GQ;” and Ki Ki Brown, afternoon host at Pittsburgh’s urban adult contemporary station “107.3 The Beat.”
DJ CHEVY, JAMES WHITE
SLEDGREN, from Glitchrealm/Taylor Gang.
DEVON from Promo Push, far left, and DJ J-Dough, second from right, with guests at the “Inside The Industry” music seminar, in the Hill District, March 7.
DJ SUPERSTAR JAY, SCOTT “LOODY BOY” WOODS
PORTIA FOXX of WAMO 100.1 FM, center, with “Straight To The League” podcast hosts Tim Curges and Dontae Comans. (Photos by Courier photographer Dayna Delgado)
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