Axios Pittsburgh
September 24, 2025
1 big thing: City's hottest hip-hop party turns 10
It's time to shake it.
Why it matters: Pittsburgh's hip-hop scene is growing and showing out at DJ-driven events across the city, especially dance parties like Slappers N Bangers, which is turning 10 years old this weekend with a massive show at Stage AE.
🕺 Catch up quick: Slappers N Bangers started in 2015 at Spirit in Lawrenceville, in the same venue where local rap legend Mac Miller was holding a record release party, co-founder DJ Arie Cole tells Axios.
- Cole said the party was in the basement and the record release was upstairs, but people were moving in between both, which helped Slappers N Bangers get on people's radar.
- The party moved to Brillobox between 2016 and 2019, where it built up a dedicated fan base.
- Then things really started to pick up after the pandemic, when event spaces like Trace Brewing and Thunderbird Cafe started hosting Slappers N Bangers.
What they're saying: "It just pushed the culture," Cole said. "We believe that people want to go to places that prioritize music."
- More than 4,000 people are expected to fill Stage AE this weekend, he said.
- Over the summer, Slappers N Bangers had one of its biggest crowds ever when 6,500 showed up to its block party in Larimer.
📻 Listen up: Slappers N Bangers hosts DJs who play hip-hop, R&B, and trap music — a subgenre of rap from the South — the kind of non-mainstream music fans could hear only on their headphones, Cole said.
- That includes national acts like Lay Bankz and Veeze, as well as local rappers like Benji.
- Avoiding filler songs was key — just slappers and just bangers, Cole said.
State of play: There was a demand for playing only hip-hop, but Cole said many local clubs wouldn't oblige, so he and co-founder DJ NFD started a party themselves.
- Cole said their events reject bottle culture and exclusivity that permeates in club culture, and fans have responded well to that.
📍 If you go: The 10th anniversary party runs from 4 to 10pm Sunday at Stage AE in the North Shore.
- 21 and over
- $45 for general admission
2. Our universities climb in college rankings
Carnegie Mellon, the University of Pittsburgh and Point Park University are moving up the ranks among the nation's top colleges, per the U.S. News & World Report.
The big picture: The annual Best Colleges report — one of the nation's most closely watched and hotly debated rankings — now puts more weight on outcomes like student debt, earnings and graduation rates.
Zoom in: Carnegie Mellon rose one spot to No. 20 in the 2026 top 100 universities list, making it Pennsylvania's second-highest ranked school after the University of Pennsylvania at No. 7.
- Pitt rose one spot from last year to No. 69, and Downtown's Point Park University jumped 11 spots to No. 318 — one of the biggest climbs of any school in the state.
- Robert Morris University in Moon Township climbed six spots to No. 208, while Duquesne University dropped four to No. 169 and Chatham slipped four to No. 213.
Zoom out: Pennsylvania had seven schools among the top 100 on the 2026 list.
- Penn State rose four spots to No. 50.
The intrigue: Pittsburgh schools also shine in niche categories, with Carnegie Mellon ranked the nation's fourth most innovative and No. 25 for best value universities.
The bottom line: Rankings like U.S. News & World Report's continue to sway where students apply and enroll, even as critics argue they oversimplify what defines a college's true quality.
- In Pittsburgh, these enrollment decisions determine the strength of our "meds and eds" economy.
3. The Bridge: Some stations still without Kimmel
4. 💩 1 treat to go: Hojicha ice cream
Axios Pittsburgh
