{"id":11894,"date":"2017-05-02T19:50:51","date_gmt":"2017-05-02T19:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/spq\/?p=11894"},"modified":"2017-05-02T19:55:35","modified_gmt":"2017-05-02T19:55:35","slug":"yung-old-headz-pittsburgh-music-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/spq\/yung-old-headz-pittsburgh-music-spotlight\/","title":{"rendered":"Yung Old Headz | Pittsburgh Music Spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ron Fisher<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh based hip-hop group, the Yung Old Headz, is quietly putting on for the Steel City. The group\u2019s lead member, TNT, has been in the game since the early 1980s and hasn\u2019t looked back since.<\/p>\n

A few years after stepping foot onto the rap scene, TNT would link with fellow Pittsburgh emcee Mello. The two rappers would drop bars back-to-back until the group\u2019s third member, TNT\u2019s son DTAZ, joined the group several years ago.
\nNow a trio, the group is working to bring back the pure essence of hip-hop.\u00a0 After dropping numerous albums and appearing on more than 30 mixtapes, the Yung Old Headz are proud to announce the release of their new project The Godfathers of Hip Hop, which dropped on March 21st.
\nThe new album is filled with their unique sound, and lyrics that everyone can relate to.\u00a0 TNT, whose musical influences include the Sugar Hill Gang, Rakim, and Busta Rhymes, said he is constantly being told that the Yung Old Headz is what hip-hop has been missing. He said that is partly due to the group\u2019s experience and authenticity.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t compare our sound to nobody,\u201d TNT said. \u201cAll music has it similarities, but it also has its own touch to it. As far as rap goes, its all rhyming words, sentences and phrases, but how you put it together is one thing, and how you present it is another.\u201d\u00a0 TNT describes the group\u2019s sound as \u201cone of a kind,\u201d but at the same time, it\u2019s something that all walks in life can vibe to, which is evident in their record sales.<\/p>\n

According to the group\u2019s lead emcee, Yung Old Headz is one of the few independent groups to achieve Gold Record status for selling more than 500,000 copies of their album The Essence of Hip Hop, which featured their hit single, \u201cAnybody.\u201d This is the group\u2019s greatest achievement, TNT said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you get people who actually like your music, and appreciate what you are doing with your music, it\u2019s a great feeling. I do not take anyone who is a fan, whether young or old, for granted,\u201d he said. \u201cWe love all of our fans.\u201d
\n\"\"While TNT did recall times of receiving support from people he wasn\u2019t expecting too, he did mention that the support from the Pittsburgh area is at times disappointing.\u00a0 He said that Pittsburgh is filled with great talent, but that the city needs to do a better job of coming together to help build each other up.\u00a0 He noted that most of the group\u2019s fan base comes from out of the Pittsburgh area.\u00a0 Their music is currently being played in countries across the globe, such as Japan, Italy, France, Australia and the United Kingdom.\u00a0 However, the worldwide success, fame and the money is not what drives the Yung Old Headz.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m in it for the love of hip-hop,\u201d TNT said. \u201cEverybody wants to get there, but don\u2019t know how to get there.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWe have spent thousands of dollars trying to make a name for ourselves. Young people have got to understand that none of this is for free and that the hood will never make you rich.\u201d
\n\u201cCreativity is key. You have to stand out and create your own lane,\u201d TNT said.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cEvery artist that has created their own lane is still doing it to this day in their fifties and sixties. It\u2019s about longevity. <\/strong>I was there when rap started and people thought that it would never last.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong> <\/em><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

More than 40 years later, hip-hop is still going strong, so be sure to support your local artists and check out The Godfathers of Hip Hop by the Yung Old Headz, available now at www.theyoh.com<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This article was first published in Soul Pitt Quarterly Print Magazine (Spring 2017).\u00a0 Copyright Soul Pitt Media.\u00a0 All Rights Reserved.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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By Ron Fisher Pittsburgh based hip-hop group, the Yung Old Headz, is quietly putting on for the Steel City. The group\u2019s lead member, TNT, has been in the game since the early 1980s and hasn\u2019t looked back since. A few … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-soul-pitt-quarterly"],"featured_image_src":"","blog_images":{"medium":"","large":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"ams_acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/spq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/spq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/spq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/spq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/spq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11894"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/spq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11900,"href":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/spq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11894\/revisions\/11900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/spq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/spq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thesoulpitt.com\/spq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}