It may not have been a harmonic convergence, but when this pair of Hill District talents combined their talents, Alumni Music Group was born. Those quick to pigeonhole the group as a single act need to slow down to recognize that AMG is a collective movement.

ALUMNI MUSIC GROUP

Emcee Tim “Ca$ino” Rutherford started Alumni Music Group back in 2003 with hip-hop artist Rich “Sinn City” Miller. Rutherford and Miller grew up together recording music for a group that was not going anywhere, so they decided to leave the group.  

Rutherford started battle rapping at East Liberty’s Shadow Lounge in 2003 to get some exposure for the group. During the battle raps he met Keygen “KB” Bryant. Bryant, a close friend with DJ Phinesse, one of Pittsburgh’s top DJ’s, gave Rutherford competition during the battle and after three rounds they ended up working together.

Phinesse set Alumni Music Group up with shows and started getting the group’s name out in the public. Alumni started getting artists from all over the city to link up with them and the movement was on.

“Honestly, I feel like I was born into hip-hop,” said Rutherford. “My father and uncle were DJ’s back in the late 80’s early 90’s at Constantine’s in East Liberty. I remember being eight or nine years old sitting behind the DJ booth watching them spin. My pops used to make me rhyme with them so I would stay awake until he got finished with his set at 2 a.m.

“I always loved all types of music,” he continued. “I don’t know why, but it made me feel better. I remember my little sister Talisa and I would stay up all night recording my music using a Home Alone Talk Boy tape recorder. I remember my mother and godmother used to have these big house parties.  They used to wake us up in the middle of the night and say, “Come on, baby, do that new dance or do that Kriss-Kross thing for us again.”

Rutherford said as he grew older, he got more serious about hip-hop. “After the death of my grandmother, who help raised me, I hit the streets real hard. I didn’t know how to deal with her not being here anymore and I was getting kicked out of the crib almost every day. I used hip-hop to vent eventually and I started writing everything down I was going through and doing. Music made me feel like I was growing in a way. Hip-hop started speaking for me in a way that anger, pain and violence could not.”

Rutherford said he never planned on being a “rapper.”  

“I did music for me because it was my way out. I did not get into music to get rich, but to heal myself from stress. I guess that’s what hip-hop is to me, its therapy and that’s why I do what I do”, says Rutherford.

Rutherford wants people to know that he is hungry —for himself, but also for his squad. He’s been writing his solo album his whole life. All he asks is that Pittsburgh stand with Alumni on their road to the top.