Yo! Pittsburgh raps?
February 11, 2010 by Ashley Goodsell
Filed under 2010 Spring, Q & A
By Zachary Boslett, For Point Park News Service
Chad Lantz, 32, of Mt. Washington, is a hip-hop artist and promoter in Pittsburgh who has placed artists at venues such as Mr. Small’s Funhouse and Z:Lounge and has performed at many clubs around Pittsburgh.
Lantz’s main contribution to the music scene in Pittsburgh is his positive messages in his songs and his desire to unite the artists of Pittsburgh in an effort to prove to the rest of the country that Pittsburgh’s got talent.
Chad Lantz, AKA Pittsburgh Hip Hop artist Verbs, poses in his home-created studio as he prepares to release his album next month. Photo by Kyna Damewood, For Point Park News Service
Q: How did you get to where you are in promoting music and gathering shows?
CL: “I’ve worked with almost all the hip-hop artists in the Pittsburgh scene. I’ve worked with small clubs like Z:Lounge, some big clubs like Mr. Smalls. I do promotion and advertisement. I went to school for graphics so I just decided to use it all to do what I do.
“How I got here was I grew up, loved music, and decided to write. That’s the bottom line. I do what feels good to me. I do consider it hip-hop; I do consider it true music.”
Q: Where do you fit into the Pittsburgh music scene?
CL: “I’m 32 years old so I’m old in the scene and what I’m trying to do will never be done. I’m trying to unite everybody. The scene needs unity because we all know, no matter what genre, there aren’t really artists who get to get out of Pittsburgh. But the scene doesn’t really want to do that. It gets discouraging but all we really need is to work together. And eventually, maybe one artist will actually come out of the city and people will realize Pittsburgh has talent in all genres of music.”
Q: What is the biggest problem in trying to promote music in Pittsburgh?
CL: “You need money. And if you’re an artist, chances are you don’t have money. When you are an artist, you have much more of a passion for creativity than you do for the monetary value. Money is always an obstacle. And again, people say they want to work together, but trying to get them to pitch $20 a piece to do something doesn’t happen once they realize if they do that they’re not eating today.”
Q: What do you think of commercial hip-hop nowadays?
CL: “Cookie cutter hip hop. First and foremost, I think you should get smacked if you say hip-hop when you’re talking about jewelry and money and women. I’m not saying I’m no great dude but I do not like to degrade women. It’s just absolutely ridiculous. Any woman who is really going to let herself be talked about like that… They need to ‘go get right.’
“It’s horrible. That’s industry; we all know that, no matter who you are. Trends come out and people follow it but it’s just unfortunate that the trend in rap music and hip hop for over a decade is the same stuff. It’s never going to stop: Auto-Tune and everything is digitally produced with effects on voices and everything like that.
“How many times can you hear about the same car and the rims and all the gold I got in my mouth? It’s all a façade and it’s a horrible message to children. It’s an absolutely horrible message to children because when they see that, that’s all they see. They don’t even see the hard work it takes to make it. I’m not knocking these guys; they have to do a lot of hard work to get where they are at. It’s just once they are there, they forget the big picture.”
