RoyceOnTheRadio: April 2014

It seems like recently I have talked to a lot of people who have brought up the Wichita hip-hop scene, and what it used to be like. I have also been seeing people at shows the last couple weeks who I have not seen in years that used to be a huge part in the Wichita hip-hop scene. I was cleaning out my basement going through boxes and as I pulled out thing I figured ti was time to start sharing some of the Wichita hip-hop history. So… lets get started! One of the first things that I pulled out was a Handover Fist mixtape. Handover Fist was the name for DJ Kulayde’s productions that he put out. I first met DJ Kulayde in late 1995, early 1996 at a birthday party at the Clarion hotel on West Kellogg. Those were the days when hotels weren’t scared to rent out there ballrooms for hip-hop parties. I had wanted to start DJing so I ordered a crappy DJ starter kit with 2 belt drive turntables and a Gemini Scratchmaster mixer from the Music Factory out of NYC. I really had no idea what I was doing. At this party there was a guy with dread who looked like he had jumped out of a Wu-Tang Clan video djing with two turntables and a mixer. He was the first AND ONLY person I had seen up to that time really scratching and mixing like I wanted to do. After the party was over I got up the balls to go and introduce myself. He said his name was Kulayde like the drink and that it was nice to meet me. I told him that I wanted to be a DJ and learn from him. Understandably he told that he had heard people say they wanted to learn before and never did and that he didn’t let people learn on his equipment. I responded and said, “Oh I got my own turntables and mixer, just was wondering if I could learn from you and watch.” He stopped… grabbed a piece of paper, wrote his number down, gave it to me and said for me to call him the next day. I did and we talked for a bit. At the end of the conversation he asked what I was doing next weekend. I told him nothing, and he said I could stop by the house to check out the set up he had. The next weekend I found myself on 15th & Belmont walking up to a house to go meet Kulayde for the first time. As we were headed downstairs into “The Lair” there were about 8 or 9 people just handing out around the house. I got introduced to them and found out they were all part of the Flatland Brigade. The people at the house that day were, Gortex, Shaheed aka Camouflage, Juice (Kulayde’s twin), Dame, Quintis aka Quack (who I had known from North High), Ak, 3 and Shawn who now goes by Bilial, but you may know him as Bloody Hands. Over the years Kulayde became a very big mentor to me. A couple years later he told me about a new piece of equipment he got, a digital multitrack machine! Now he didn’t have to do a mixtape in real time, he could mix segments of it, then piece it all together later. He then told me that he was talking to the new hip hop station in town (KDGS – Power 93.9) and that they were going to let him produce a mixtape to air on Friday night. Now this was before Power 93.9 was corporately owned. It was located on Central & Maize at the time. Kulayde and I used to ride out and they would give us all the promo records. Those were the days when AJ Jones, Ricardo Cherry and Mad Money Mike were on the station. Kukayde made the mix and also made tape of it that got sold at Music and Moore. Below is the intro to the mixtape. This is from 1997! Some of the people you hear are Juice, Ak and Camouflage. The drop of the voice saying “Handover Fist productions will make you move” is none other than Lo Phat. Next week I will post an aircheck one of the youngest people to have a mixshow on the radio… also in the next couple weeks will have music from Da Noiz, DJ Hard, Rob-1-der and more! But for now… enjoy this #TBT Wichita Hip-Hop throwback! @RoyceOnTheRadio