WICHITA HIP-HOP HISTORY - LESSON 2 - YO WHO IS PHATKAT?

As I was going through some of my old stuff I came across an aircheck tape from 1997. I wasn’t sure what was on it so I decided to give it a listen and as soon as I heard it I knew it was the perfect subject to post on for Wichita Hip-Hop Lesson 2! It was early 1997, I was a senior in high school and for me personally these were some of the best years for hip-hop in this city. There were fun parties going on, shows were starting to come through and the scene was just all good. I had been getting better at Djing and was actually getting to spin the first hour for parties that Kulayde was DJing at. I was sitting in class one day at North High (Go Redskins) and I heard about a party that was going to be happening. A friend of mine got a flier from somewhere and it said that it was being held by a guy named “Phatkat”. We went to the party and had a great time. I kept hearing the name “Phatkat” pop up more and more. I kept think, who is this Phatkat? Nobody at North really knew who he was, but over some investigation I did find out that he went to Heights and that he was a DJ! I remember one of the Phatkat parties I went to (which I believe was at the Indian Center), I noticed he was DJing and tried to see who he was but could never really get close enough to get a good look. Plus he had a hat on pulled down low so you could never really see his face. It was actually pretty cool, because on his fliers he had a logo of cat with a low brimmed hat so that you counted see his eyes. It started to became a bit of a mystery on who Phatkat was. So one Friday night I’m rolling around with some friends and there a playing a mix on the radio. It was sounding great and one thing I noticed was they were playing some hip-hop songs that they usually never played on the radio inside the mix. As we are rolling around the DJ comes on says, “Yeah this is Phatkat...” I couldn’t believe it! It was the same Phatkat who was throwing and DJing all these parties. At this point I knew I had to find out who this guy was. Every Friday I made sure to tune into to the mix to hear Phatkat on the radio. As luck would have it I found at that Phatkat went to Heights and I had family that was going there during that time so I asked them if they had heard of Phatkat. They didn’t know him personally; however they did know that his name was Anthony and that his dad was AJ Jones from the radio! AJ jones was on KBUZ and KDGS during its early years. He would always sign off by saying, “Angie baby… I’m on the back roads honey”. It was great! So finally I got the info on Phatkat but I still hadn’t got a chance to meet him. It was a new semester at North and usually there are new students that come from other schools. The first day of the new school year I noticed this person who I had never seen at North before. He was dressed in Tommy Hilfiger and Polo, totally prepped out with his collar popped up. Nobody at North had a style that looked like that. He also looked like he didn’t know too many people there. Later that day I was heading to English class. I got my seat and about 20 seconds later the new kid walked in. I remember this like it was yesterday because I had on my Wu-Tang Clan t-shirt and my camo pants on and as he walked by he said, “Ahhhh snaps what you know about Wu-Tang Clan?” I knew his taste in music was good so we talked about the Wu for a bit while the teacher did roll call. I heard her say,” Anthony, Anthony Jones”, and the new kid raised his hand to let her know he was there. Then I started putting everything together. This guy was Phatkat! The next day, same class, we were talking music again and I asked him if he was Phatkat. He just smiled and nodded his head. Crazy! Over the semester he was one of the only people at North that I could really talk hip-hop and music with. Over our talks I found out later that his dad and my uncle were very good friends and used to throw parties back in the late 70’s together. To this day the Phatkat parties are some of the best I have EVER been too. The vibe, music and feel to his parties were just great. Everyone came to have a good time and dance. You can’t mention the Wichita hip-hop scene without mentioning Phatkat aka Anthony Jones aka Antdilla. The aircheck I found was of one of Phatkats’s mixes that I recorded. Posted below is 11 of the 45 minute aircheck tape that I have. Also it was cool to hear Power 93.9 when it was known as K-DOGS. This was from September of 1997, and this is what radio sounded like while rolling around on a Friday night in those days. K-DOGS was the last real urban station in Wichita until 107.9 Jamz came along almost 10 years later. When talking about Wichita hip-hop it would be insane of me not to talk about all the elements of it. Graff, Emcees, DJs, etc. So next week I will be focusing on Wichita and bboying. Until then enjoy the selection below! - @RoyceOnTheRadio