CLARICE BURSE looks at a photo of her friend, Mike Tomlin. Tomlin was killed on May 27 in Wilkinsburg. A balloon release was held in Tomlin’s honor on Memorial Day at Point State Park. (Photo by Rob Taylor Jr.)
Singer, rapper, producer Mike ‘Tomlinese’ Tomlin among those killed
Memorial Day, known for remembering those who lost their lives while fighting for the United States of America. It’s also a day where families head to cemeteries to lay flowers on their loved ones who died via other means.
Downtown, at Point State Park, there was another remembrance on this Memorial Day 2023—for Mike “Tomlinese” Tomlin, a music artist, music producer, whose life was cut short in a shooting at a home in Wilkinsburg, May 27.
Well known in Pittsburgh’s Hip-Hop community, Tomlin worked in a variety of roles for WAMO Radio (107.3), starting in 2014.
None of the 100 or so friends, family and associates of Tomlin could have ever imagined that he would be a casualty of the gun violence that has plagued Pittsburgh and the region for the last three decades. However, more specifically, Tomlin’s death was part of a wave of violence in the past week, which included the death of his friend, Jerry Gardner, 30, whose body was found wrapped in a tarp in Garfield on May 24.
Over the Memorial Day weekend, two juveniles were shot on Nolan Court in Homewood, a woman was grazed in the face by a bullet near Chauncey Drive in the Hill District, and a 16-year old was shot in Larimer. Just prior to the Memorial Day weekend, a 15-year-old, Derrick Harris Jr., was shot and killed outside Oliver Citywide Academy on the North Side, and a 55-year-old man, Calvin Baldridge, was killed in a shooting at Chief’s Cafe in Oakland.
“Hopefully we can come together to find out solutions for the violence,” said Khari Mosley, who is poised to become the next Pittsburgh City Councilman in District 9, “and find pathways out of the challenges that our young people are facing, so we can make our city safer.”
Mosley made the walk to the Point for the balloon release for Tomlin on Memorial Day, where red balloons were released by the crowd in Tomlin’s honor around 6 p.m.
Mosley told the New Pittsburgh Courier that on social media, “You could see the outpouring of support from those not only in Pittsburgh but around the country with all the people (Tomlin) touched with his incredible talent. I thought it was important for me to show up and be present, stand with the community.”
Jamal Woodson, who formerly was WAMO Radio’s General Manager and now serves as General Sales Manager for WAMO, said that “everyone’s going to say he was the best producer, one of the best artists, but best of all, he was always wanting to do things free for everyone. (Tomlin) didn’t charge people for doing stuff. He would be in the studio for hours at a time just helping people with their songs, producing stuff.”
Whether he worked for WAMO or didn’t, Woodson said he could always call on Tomlin to provide music, sing a hook, or produce commercials for WAMO clients.
“He was a singer, rapper, producer,” Woodson said. “We always said he was the better Drake. Behind the scenes, he did everything for us.”
Troy Potter remembered Tomlin as a kid. “He was just trying to get ahead in a city where African Americans, we got issues here,” Potter said. “It’s a shame that it ends like this. He’s trying to make music, help Pittsburgh out…Somebody in the community doing good things for the community, now is gone.”
“A lot of people know ‘Tomlinese,’ I don’t know Tomlinese, I know Michael,” voiced Clarice Burse. “My friend for over 15 years. A kindhearted person, would give you the shirt off his back. Mike could have only had two dollars but give you one. Mike cared about everybody. When he got into music, he didn’t care what hood you were from, he was about getting Pittsburgh on the map. That’s just who he was.”
KENNEDY VAUGHN, center, speaks to the crowd at a balloon release for her friend, Mike “Tomlinese” Tomlin. (Photos by Rob Taylor Jr.)
Kennedy Vaughn, a music artist in Pittsburgh, said Tomlin produced all of her music. She was the primary organizer of the balloon release for Tomlin.
“I know right now he would want us all to be so happy,” Vaughn told the crowd, holding back tears. “He would want us to celebrate him because he had fun, he made us all laugh, he was goofy as hell…Every moment with him was fun. He lived. I wish he lived longer, but he lived.”
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