Q Dot

http://www.bet.com/news/music/2013/05/13/charliered-to-perform-at-music-matters-showcase.html - BET Networks

http://www.handsonhiphop.com/reviewsandinterviews/blog1.php/qdot-interview - Hands on hip hop

http://www.mtvhive.com/artist/q_dot_1/videos/761509/indivisible_2_0 - MTV

http://www.mtvhive.com/artist/q_dot_1/videos/761509/indivisible_2_0 - MTV

http://ambrosiaforheads.com/2013/02/spotlight-q-dot-black-gold/ - Ambrosia for heads

http://www.weouthere.net/2013/07/q-dot-black-gold/ - We Out Here Magazine

http://www.swurvradio.com/2012/12/interview-iamqdot/ - Swurv radio

http://www.swurvradio.com/2012/12/interview-iamqdot/ - Swurv radio

For Immediate Release:

From Tre’dmarks Music Group

Today, Thursday September 30,2010 Seattle area Grammy nomination finalist and Hip Hop/Rap & B artist Q Dot kicks off a nationwide radio campaign for new single Froglegs & Fishgrease with nationally programmed Music Choice. Watched in over 43 million homes, Music Choice is a mostly commercial free source for new music and music videos. Music Choice features an informative style of music programming that often displays facts on screen while a particular artists song is playing.

Released under his own Tre’dmarks Music Group label, Froglegs & Fishgrease is the second single from Underground Railroad, the independent album that was warmly received by the Recording Academy just a year ago. As every other song on the album, Froglegs was produced, written and performed by Q Dot. The song along with B side 24 hours will run on Music Choice through December of this year.

Find Q Dot
Facebook.com/iamqdot, twitter.com/iamqdot, www.iamqdot.com

Underground Railroad is available on all major online retailers
###

For more information contact:
Maurice Thornton ~ COO ~ Tre’dmarks Music Group
Reese [AT] tredmarks.com or pr [AT] tredmarks.com
253-861-7103 - Tre'dmarks Music Group

Congratulations to First Night organizers for including a little something dirty in their New Year’s Eve lineup. Bouncing us into this pivotal year will be Federal Way-based emcees Q Dot and Fame Rilla, members of Federal Way-based mini label Tre’dmarks.

Q Dot, a.k.a. Quincy Henry, has been getting glow for his self-produced video “Hotter than a Furnace,” which has been in rotation on the legendary Bobby T Show. The Atlanta-based cablecast has been around since the late ’70s, and has received several awards for its grassroots efforts. It’s not quite MTV2, but for an independent Northwest rapper, getting on the Bobby T show is something to be proud of.

Q dot is a proudly independent artist, who talks serious business with or without a mic. His latest full-length, Death is Dying, bumps along nicely, with catchy hooks and real solid grooves. MySpace offerings are predictable but damn hard not to nod to. Cuts like “Ijuswannaloveya” pack in references to hybrid martial arts, 16 straight bars that end in “ass,” and lines like “You’re so sexy girl — let me ride up on your back like a Jet Ski girl.” Sounds like a happy new year to me.

See Q Dot and the Tre’dmarks crew New Year’s Eve at Theater on the Square, Dec. 31 at 9:30 p.m. Bring your parkas, cause it’s gon’ be cold! — Brad Allen

[Theatre on the Square, Monday, Dec. 31, 9:30 p.m., 915 Broadway, Tacoma, - The Weekly Volcano

Seaspot Magazine
July 2009
By: Nick Reynolds


Q Dot – Tre’dmarks Music Group
Seaspot caught up with him and picked this musical genius’s brain for a minute and this is how it went down!



I had a chance to chop it up with one of Seattle’s most talented MC’s and got an early copy of his new album titles “Underground Railroad”/ From beginning to end Q Dot impresses with a southern soulful tingle in each track mixed with a slice of Northwest new school and a complex and quick wittedlyrical onslaught! Q Dot is the real deal and this new record he is about to drop on you is the truth…believe me!



The punch lines are smart, the swagger is on point, the production (which he does himself) is pure unadulterated HEAT! This guy does it all! He’s the one man band of the Northwest music scene from the mixing and mastering, the writing, the delivery, the production, the distribution…even the artwork! The guy is a Hip-hop music machine!



SS: MAN…I WANT TO READ THIS MYSPACE BIO AGAIN. HAHAHA… THIS IS HILARIOUS! HAS TO BE ONE OF HE BEST BIO’S I EVER READ MAN…AND I WRITE BIO’S!



QD: Yes sir!



SS: SO WHAT’S GOOD WITH Q DOT MAN. LET ME KNOW WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON FAM!



QD: Bein’ super duper stupid! Out here tyin’ to be Superman man! Just putting the little final touches on the video and shootin’ that out to the networks and tryin’ to get a little radio push goin’. Got these little show dates lines up! I’m tryin’ to get this tour with Mistah Fab done, it’ supposed to be 26 days and that will be coming like in September which would be raw! It’s pretty much a wrap! It’s gotta go down! I need to really hit the road outside of Seattle.



SS: SOME OF THESE SHOW DATES ARE’T VERY LITTLE MAN! YOU GOT HEMPFEST ON HERE AND THE BITE OF SEATTLE! THAT’S MAJOR FAM!



QD: Yeah…that’s some solid dates man. I’m not complaining at al all man! I did the Summer Ham down in Houston last year and that was bananas! That was like my first show out of state.



SS: SO WHAT’S THE SINGLE AND WHAT’S THE VIDEO THAT YOUR WORKING ON IT THAT THE SUPERFRESH JOINT?



QD: Yeah man. Superfresh is the first on and I just got off the phone with the people from from Fuse last week and they definitely want to get it poppin’ on the on-demand so we’ll see! Then the next one is gonna be “froglegs and fishgrease” and im gonna shoot that video next month.



SS: SO AUGUST 18TH IS A SOLID RELEASE DATE THEN?



QD: August 18th it’s gonna be ready to roll! It’s gonna be out August 18th it’s just tryin’ to put the final touches on the business but the music part of it is done!



SS: NOW I’M A NORTHWEST CAT MYSELF…BORN, BREAD, BLED AND FED MAN AND I KNOW YOUR CITY IS THE NEXT TO BLOW SO JUST LET ME GET YOUR TAKE ON THE SCENE OUT THERE AND WHAT YOU SEE GOING ON.



QD: I got mixed feelings about it man. I see some people talking about putting Seattle on the map man but really it’s already there, it’s already been done! When people are talking about putting the town on the map then what are they trying to accomplish because all those things they are talking about doing are being done.



This cat Q Dot is seriously smart and I had a chance to chop it with him for a good minute but it just won’t all fit! So…to catch more of the man then hit him on his myspace at myspace.com/qdotmusic or at his twitter page at twitter.com/iamqdot! Get at a Nortwest GEM! - Seaspot Magazine

Quincy Henry, Q-Dot professionally and on stage, knows a thing or two about the music industry. He's been around the hip-hop block, so to speak.

An MC and producer, after crafting a surprisingly slick demo in his dorm room, Henry left college at Central Washington University in 2003 for the allure of a record deal with Interscope - a deal that never materialized. Later, Henry would have a similar experience with Epic. The A&R reps got fired, or died, or got pregnant - possibly all three. I'm not sure. In reality, it's not very important. It's a chain of events the South Sound music scene is better for.

"At first I was bitter," says Henry of the experience of being screwed around by Interscope and later Epic. "But I was fortunate enough that the people from Interscope and Epic really taught me a lot. A lot of people have a warped idea of what the music industry is."

What the experience taught Henry, more than anything, is the music industry, hip-hop included, is a business - and the sooner people start realizing it the better. He's used any negative taste left in his mouth from interactions with the majors to go on what he calls an "indie crusade," starting a record label, releasing his own efforts - like 2009's Underground Railroad - and delving into Internet radio ... among other things.

Things like the upcoming, first annual, Grit City Fest, which will fill small local music venues all over Tacoma June 17-19. Incorporating a diverse array of genres, music and art workshops, along with film and spoken word - Grit City Fest is as much an event designed to promote Tacoma's arts and music communities as it is something to show us all the way.

To hear Henry tell it, it's an idea that stems from the general idea that Tacoma needs something like this, a non denominational, non genre specific festival, to bring out all sides of Tacoma's artistic diversity - and most importantly lead us to work together. A festival where the city's creative types can come together, work together and learn from one another. After throwing out a message on the TacomaArt listserv, and recruiting the sole help of local artist extraordinaire Suzanne Skaar, who's taken the reigns as the Grit City Festival's artistic director, the two have worked since September to create what will come to fruition next week. It's a modest start for a grand vision.

One can't help but note the similarities between what Skaar and Henry have created and a teeny, tiny, baby version of Austin's yearly SXSW festival. SXSW, as you know, is an orgy of epic proportions that fills every club or ramshackle space in town with music for an entire week - drawing hordes of industry types to Austin for classes, seminars, guest lectures and an all around cool factor of the city - which is, of course, reinforced by an event like SXSW. It's no coincidence Grit City Fest takes after it.

"Basically, I'm ripping off SXSW," Henry eagerly admits, saying he envisions future Grit City Festivals including a "non stop vendor, industry and trade convention area." "If I could stop going to Austin, that'd be great."

But lets keep this discussion grounded in the present. Whether or not Grit City Fest goes on to take over the world and rival SXSW (admittedly, two FAIRLY MAJOR question marks), the main purpose of the festival is being felt right here, right now - completely in the present. By creating something that blends a diverse slice of Tacoma's musical identity, from the obvious hip-hop Henry is known for, to the artistic world Skaar is in tune with, to singer/songwriters, indie rock, poets, filmmakers and beyond, Grit City Fest will not only put Tacoma's gleam on full display, and expose Tacoma to outside talent - the festival has the potential to act as guidance and inspiration to artists and would-be creators all over our underdog city.

In other words, and if all goes as Henry and Skaar hope, Grit City Fest could be a big fucking deal.

"I felt like we'd be doing a disservice to the whole community if we didn't incorporate all of it," Henry says of the decision to make Grit City Fest about more than simply hip-hop. "The festival is really just a representation of Tacoma."

"The only way to get support from a community is supporting a community," says Henry of the personal drive behind Grit City Fest. "And it's got to be sincere."

By all indications, when it comes Henry, Skaar and what they've created in Grit City Fest - it certainly is.

Grit City Fest
June 17-19, times vary, $20 weekend pass, $40 VIP, $12 selected single events
Tacoma venues include The Den @ urbanXchange, Hell's Kitchen, Metro Coffee, The Swiss, The Harmon Tap Room, Speakeasy Arts Cooperative, Library at Sanford and Son
more details at gritcityfest.com - Weekly Volcano

Desiring to start a new music festival that embodies the spirit of Tacoma, local rap artist Quincy “Q Dot” Henry sought help with his idea the way that many artists in Tacoma do: through the Tacoma Art Listserv.

“There aren’t many festivals in the area that let in hip hop artists,” Henry said. “There are tons of rock fests, and this is no different in that respect, but you very rarely hear of a mixed genre festival happening in this region.”

Shortly after his e-mail to the community went out, he received a response from a friend and former neighbor, local visual artist Suzanne Skaar.

“We met up, bounced ideas back and forth, and got the website for the event up and going that day,” Skaar affirmed.

And thus, the inaugural Grit City Music Fest was born, which will take place over three days from June 17-19.

THE BRAINS BEHIND THE OPERATION

Henry has taken on the role of the event’s music director and Skaar has taken on the position of artistic director, and in each of their positions the two artists want to shed light on and expose the city to as many new and established faces on the scene as possible in three days. So far they’ve done a great job, as there are 12 visual artists and 34 musicians lined up to perform at 11 venues throughout downtown, with more being added everyday.

“There are a few things that make our festival unique against the others that have been established here,” Skaar noted. “Most festivals here are geared toward families, but this one is geared toward people in the 25-35-year-old range, but is obviously not capped there. Secondly, we want hip-hop to merge and be performed alongside indie rock and other genres. We want this to be like a three-night party. And third, we wanted to have fun. We know a lot of artists and bands and you can only do so much. The event has spread to different parts of the city such as Stadium as well as downtown.”

VISUAL AND AUDIBLE SHOWCASES

While Grit City Fest has no shortage of visual and musical art to please even the most particular of tastes, the creators affirmed there are a few highlights in the bunch that will be sure to rev everyone’s engines:

Art, according to Skaar: “Hera Won makes really interesting aerosol art on walls and canvases. Also, Jeremy Gregory is an artist and illustrator from Tacoma who has become known for his graphics, comic strips and magazine illustrations. He shows around the Northwest and with the group Artifakt. And Starheadboy is a working artist who creates stream-of-consciousness-based works.”

In terms of music, Skaar also has some thoughts on which groups may be the favorites of the weekend festival. “Definitely Deborah Page and Voxxy Vallejo, as they are both really talented female musicians here. I’m also looking forward to Quincy’s set, rockers Daniel G. Harmann & the Trouble Starts and hip-hop artists EvergreenOne & Todd Sykes and Josh Rizeburg.”

Music, according to Henry: “Lisa Dank is a pop-electro singer from the Bay Area who went to University of Washington. She sounds really cool; she’s just a star. EvergreenOne & Todd Sykes have a great stage show and there’s something about their work that’s sick. Neema is a Seattle hip-hop artist who’s signed to a major label, and his album drops July 9. He’s the kind of person who’s bigger than everyone here will realize. He makes good music and I’ve known him for years. Boom Zzilla is also from Seattle and they’ve never played Tacoma before. They’ve been together for two years and make nerdcore pop rock, with songs about computer viruses, outer space and it’s dope. Another rock band I’m looking forward to is Daniel G. Harmann and the Trouble Starts. They’re signed to Burning Building Records and will be on our Grit City Fest CD Sampler.”

In addition to the live music sets and visual art viewing, visitors to Grit City Fest can also take part in workshops that will be held, including a few art-making opportunities and one that local musicians will want to attend: a forum on making it in the music business.

Art Workshops (stenciling, aerosol and more):

Saturday, June 19, Noon-1 p.m., 1:30-2:30 p.m. and 3:30-4:30 p.m. at Metro Coffee

This workshop is limited to VIPs and weekend pass holders, (first come, first served as space is limited).

Music workshop:

Thursday, June 17 at 6 p.m. at the Den at urbanXchange

The workshop will discuss marketing bands and musicians, putting out a record and making a name in the industry. Workshop speakers include: Ben London, local representative of the Recording Academy, Shelli Martineau of Conversify Marketing and Quincy “Q-Dot” Henry, Grit City Fest Music Director and owner of Tre’dmarks Music Group.

This workshop is first come, first served for VIPs and Weekend Pass holders.

THE FUTURE

Henry and Skaar both affirm that they’ve had extremely warm receptions from artists and musicians participating and the Tacoma community thus far regarding Grit City Fest. “Everybody’s loved it, and i - Tacoma Weekly

ing out the year with some local rappers at the hip-hop stage at First Night, Tacoma’s annual New Year’s Eve festival.

Local rapper Quincy “Q Dot” Henry was asked to program the stage this year. The lineup will be EvergreenOne and Todd Sykes, Q Dot, Strik and Crusal, Team Avengers, Logics, Josh Rizeberg, J2 and DV.

Performances go from 7-11:30 p.m. on Dec. 31 at Moroccan Treasures, located at 906 Broadway. The first two or three acts will perform for 15 minutes and the remainder will get 30-minute sets.

Q Dot feels organizing this show fits well with his commitment as an artist and label owner to elevate the local rap scene into national prominence. All the acts are from the South Sound and are worthy of attention, in his view.

Q Dot recently released his latest album “Underground Railroad.” He feels he and other local acts are creating a growing buzz in the Northwest. He thinks this rap scene could attain national prominence, just as the rock scene in Seattle did in the 1990s.

He performed at the one previous time First Night had a hip-hop stage. When organizers approached him about doing another, he jumped at the opportunity.

“They asked me to be a part of it and I said sure,” he remarked.

Some of the other performers are acts he has shared a stage with, others he knows from being around the local scene. Strik and Crusal he knows from when he was a student at Central Washington University and was organizing shows in Ellensburg.

Josh Rizeberg got his start with spoken word poetry. He released his debut rap album last year.

“He is rather politically charged,” Q Dot said of Rizeberg’s socially conscious lyrics. “He will be the firecracker on the bill.”

When Q Dot performed at First Night previously, Theater on the Square was the venue for the hip-hop stage. While he considers it a nice facility, it is meant for people to sit down and take in a play or lecture. Rap shows need to have room for the audience to stand up to provide the right atmosphere, in Q Dot’s opinion. Thus, this year it will take place across the street at Moroccan Treasures.

“I want this to be more like an old-school rap party,” he said. “We had the option of holding it in a theater, but having everyone sit down just makes them detached from the performance.”
- Tacoma Weekly

Q Dot’s Underground Railroad may just be one of the best, and well rounded projects to come from the northwest region. Maybe even the west coast.


Filled with solid production as well as quality bars, witty punch lines and thought provoking subject matter. This project has substance. Something hip-hop as a whole is missing today. From the intro you can tell Q Dot is goin g above and beyond the average trendy rap topics. Go get two copies.
- frshndef.com (blog)

Squeak and Squawk is back. The inaugural Grit City Fest kicks off next Thursday. It’s a great time to be a fan of local indie-rock, pop and hip-hop with not one, but two buzz-worthy showcases drawing regional talent to Tacoma over the next two weeks.

The Squeak and Squawk Music Festival should be familiar to local scenesters since its inaugural run helped establish the New Frontier Lounge in October 2008, weeks after the cozy Dome District nightclub opened.

The festival’s second not-quite- annual installment kicked off there last night with Portland’s Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside, a rootsy outfit that was recently voted Portland’s best new band by the readers of Willamette Week.

Shows for the 21 and older set are scheduled for tonight through Monday at the New Frontier. But festival founder Sean Alexander also has put together a series of all-ages shows that will be held in a retail space at 745 St. Helens Ave. today through Sunday.

“I’m calling it the Squawk Box for the week,” explained Alexander, who ran the Helm Gallery downtown before it closed in the spring of last year. He’s since moved to Longbranch, among the reasons there was no Squeak and Squawk ’09.

“It’s not designed to be an annual event. It could happen again next year. I don’t even know,” he said. “After the success of the first time, I knew I wanted to do it again. It’s just that I didn’t want to be tied to doing it every fall.”

Take advantage while you can. An indie-centric lineup includes local favorites Makeup Monsters, Paris Spleen and the MLK Ballet, with the likes of Portland’s up-and-coming Typhoon making the trip up Interstate 5. I’m especially looking forward to catching experimental indie-pop duo Kusikia and Sub Pop recording artist Jesy Fortino, a.k.a. Tiny Vipers, at the “Squawk Box” on Sunday.

The more eclectic Grit City Fest is the brainchild of Federal Way rapper Quincy “Q. Dot” Henry, who floated the idea of a new local music festival on the Tacoma Arts listserv late last summer.

“I’d just got done playing a lot of Seattle festivals,” Henry recalls. “Hemp Fest had just gotten over with, and I remember looking around thinking, ‘What’s there in Tacoma?’ I just had the idea one day and said ... I’m gonna throw it out there and see what people think.”

The results exceeded expectations, with events scheduled at Tacoma’s Urban Xchange, Hell’s Kitchen, the New Frontier Lounge, Sanford & Son Antiques, the Harmon Hub, the Swiss Tavern, the Renaissance Cafe and the University of Washington-Tacoma’s William Philip Hall.

“It’s shaping up more than what I thought,” Henry said. “I just wanted a few venues for a couple of nights to just get some art and music going on.”

Ernest Jasmin: 253-274-7389, ernest.jasmin@thenewstribune.com, blog.thenewstribune.com/tacomarockcity



Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/06/11/1221812/great-news-for-music-fans.html#ixzz0qxHnzDCz - The News Tribune

By JEFFREY M. BARKER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

FEDERAL WAY -- Sitting in the food court inside Sea-Tac Mall, Quincy Henry gets recognized every three or four minutes by someone passing by.

Most people call him Q. When he raps and lays down beats, he's known as Quality.


Scott Eklund / P-I
Quality (aka Quincy Henry) raps at a CD release party recently at the University of Washington's Ethnic Cultural Center.
The 19-year-old is something of a celebrity in this locale.

But this locale is Federal Way, where there's no music scene to swing a spotlight toward.

There are no independent record stores here, no all-ages venues for live music, no locals who have made it big.

Even some Seattle radio stations start fading to static this far south -- 1,100 miles north of Los Angeles.

There are strip malls here, and cookie-cutter, master-planned neighborhoods. There's nothing hot about Federal Way.

But this suburb of 90,000 is becoming something of a hotbed for independently produced music.

There's RocketStar Recordings, a record label run from the living room of its founder's parents' home.

The two friends who run the label, founder Darrick Bourgeois, 23, and Eric Slagle, 21, have signed five bands, including Puget Sound-area groups Gatsby's American Dream and Acceptance -- the latter with several Federal Way alums.

And then there's Quality, who taps away at keyboards and synthesizers in his parents' garage-turned-recording studio.

He's part of the hip-hop group Black Diamonds and the Tre'dmarks Music Group, a collection of rappers and beat junkies hoping to expose the music industry to what Federal Way has to offer.

They sing about "representin' the 2-5-3" (a nod to the area code) and about "the Fed-town hideaway."

"We could go up to Seattle and be like everyone else -- or we could play like we're the outsiders," said Quality, pausing to shake the hand of another passer-by. "But no one's expecting anyone from Federal Way to come out."

Tre'dmarks just released the first of three compilation albums aiming to inform people that the hip-hop scene here is legit.

"We started rapping and battling in junior high school -- on street corners, on the bus, anywhere," Q said, explaining how the Black Diamonds got started. "And we would always win. We were beating grown men -- people with record deals.

"But we're not kids anymore. We're official."

Bourgeois and Slagle aren't kids anymore, either, though sometimes it's hard to tell.

These are guys who throw New Year's Eve parties just to get girls to kiss them. They're guys who revel in the fact that they employ the same lawyer as Queensryche. They're business owners who plan on establishing a weekly field trip, when employees will be required to take group trips to a shooting range, or the bowling alley, or a pickle factory.

They're not serious about much, other than music. And even then, their dedication is matched with a healthy dose of fumbling.

"You just kind of do whatever works" to establish a record label, said Slagle, the appointed brains of the duo.

"I'm the muscle," Bourgeois said, neglecting to mention the two years he spent working at Tooth & Nail Records, a Seattle record label.

"I tried to study music and business (in college), thinking, 'Hey, that makes sense,' " he said. "No, not at all. . . . At Tooth & Nail -- I considered that my school."

Truth be told, RocketStar isn't tied to Federal Way. It's just that rent is cheap there, in the living room.

What the guys really want is to buy a house, live upstairs and run the label downstairs.

"If we can do that in Puyallup, then that's cool," Bourgeois said.

Because, contrary to popular belief, you don't have to be in Los Angeles or New York City or Seattle to produce good music.

"What would be the advantage of being in Seattle? Because I can't think of any," said Calvin Johnson, founder of Olympia-based K Records. "There's a lot going on in this town. I started K in Olympia and it never occurred to me that it would leave Olympia."

The 20-year-old K label has put out albums for successful bands Modest Mouse and the Make-Up, among others. In 1994, the label put out Beck's first album, "One Foot in the Grave" -- pre-"Loser" fame.

Johnson admits the music he puts out is on the fringe. Major record labels are birds of a wildly different feather. Maybe they've got to be in L.A. or New York.

"Auburn, Kent, Tacoma -- I've played shows there," Johnson said. "There's a lot of enthusiasm. It seems like there should be something going on."

Quality says there is. He and his crew may be the only big thing in hip-hop to come out of the Pacific Northwest since Sir-Mix-a-Lot -- the Seattle rapper who penned the lusty anthem "Baby Got Back."

"Any venue down here we've had to kind of create," Quality said as he began to walk around the mall, passing out fliers advertising a CD-release party.

The Black Diamonds hav - SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

Local rapper Q Dot begins his new album with a spoken word piece, “Ode To The Road Intro,” that summarizes slavery from the slave ships leaving Africa to Harriet Tubman’s efforts to free her people in America. “For the millions that were taken/ there were millions who didn’t make it/ only the strong survived/ I’ve derived from those who could take it.”

On “What U Ridin’” Q Dot goes around the world, with references to Seoul, South Korea to the North Pole.

“Supafresh” is his take on coolness. “In the Northwest where I’m so outrageous/ cool as the Rat Pack/ rap Sammy Davis see these goodie two shoes.”

“Froglegs n Fishgrease” is a humorous tune about a guy whose girlfriend is saving herself. “I’m sure you probably waiting until you married to share it darling I understand it/ but damn it, see I’m a man please believe I got needs and you should be the only one to handle it.” The percussion is too far up in the mix and gets irritating when compared to the sophisticated sound of the rest of the track.

“For Sale (Slave Auction ’09)” is a spoken word piece. In Q Dot’s auction slavery is an equal opportunity enterprise. “I got the whole Partridge Family, don’t get me wrong/ got Aunt Jemima and Uncle Tom.”

The woman described in “Pole” is trying to go back to school, pay bills and put food on the table for her baby. She ends up working in a strip club “riding down on the pole.”

“Music” is done in a smooth R&B style, with more singing than rapping. Q Dot plays two guitar solos. The first is short and simple. The second is longer and more complicated. He gets some good sustain, but this solo is somewhat lost in the mix.

“24 Hours” begins with piano and has a slow pace. It is an introspective tune, with some serious observations mixed in with some witticisms. “To rep my region was the pact made/ and be like Tim and make my chips in the Cascades.”

“Snakes In The Grass” is sung, with no rapping. It is inspired by old slave hymns, with a message to hold on one’s faith. It ends the album nicely, tying in with the slavery theme the intro began “Underground Railroad” with.

At times Q Dot is brash and cocky, at others serious and introspective. His material covers a variety of musical styles. “Underground Railroad” establishes him as a rapper doing something different from the rest of the pack in the local scene.

Q Dot plays the hip-hop stage at First Night on Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. and New Frontier on Jan. 1 at 9 p.m.
- Tacoma Weekly

By ERICA JAHN

Staff writer


Federal Way’s hip hop scene is rising, and its stars are hoping to take the music outside Puget Sound with the release of a three-part mix-tape series and street-level promotion.

Quincy Henry, 19, Ken Pryor, 19, and Rion (pronounced Ree-own) Pryor, 18, members of the local rap group Black Diamonds, are the engine behind the new hip hop label Tre’dmarx Records, a collective of three other production companies from the Federal Way area.

The first of the three tapes in the mix tape series, called “Federal Offense,” was released Nov. 26. Artists on the tape include Black Diamonds; Eclipse, a St. Louis rapper; Stretch, also a St. Louis rapper; Black Style Family, California and Houston rappers; Kuddie Mack, a Seattle producer and rapper; and Rocka, a Philadelphia rapper.

Tre’dmarx is working on parts two and three of the series, but hasn’t set release dates yet.

Tre’dmarx comprises three producers — the people who mix the music and beats part of a track — and about nine artists — the people who rhyme over the music.

All together, they are known as Fed’s Finest. “We all one way or the other found each other,” Ken Pryor said.

Henry and Pryor are students at Highline Community College. Henry said he’s studying everything the college has to offer, but mainly business. Pryor, a business major, said he’s focusing almost exclusively on business.

The trio had to hit the ground running when they decided to start Tre’dmarx Records. It’s been tough learning the business while they’re running it, and the fact that their business associates also are their friends has served both to sweeten and complicate operations.

“It’s kind of hard when you have to call and get on your friend because you grew up with him. But it’s business,” Henry said.

For example, some people don’t take the business as seriously or treat it as professionally because the studios are based out of their houses.

Sometimes people want studio space for free because of their friendships, and others show up at the door hoping to get access to the equipment without asking first.

Saying no and denying friends is never easy, but Pryor said they keep their friendships separate from business.

“It can get personal,” he said.

Besides, the mess-ups go both ways. Sometimes, the guys from Tre’dmarx fall behind on their responsibilities, too.

“Some days you wake up and say, ‘Today I’m a rapper. Today I’m a producer.’ And you get it all done and you’re not late,” Pryor said. “But some days you want a social life and then you’re late.”

Starting a label requires dedication and a true belief that it will work, but they know they can’t sit around and see if someone else makes it happen for them. The Tre’dmarx trio will promote the first of the three tapes themselves at parties, at clubs, on the streets and among their friends and associates.

“Unless you’re the filthiest artist alive, unless you’re Prince, you can’t just say I’m a rap artist and stop there. It starts with being a rapper, but you have to be more than a rapper,” Henry said.

“We’re out promoting — in the cold, in a t-shirt,” Pryor said. “We’re getting confronted by people who disagree with us. We’re standing there like, ‘Yep, we’re rappers.’

“We’re doing it from the ground up. In this business, you can’t go too far because there’s no one to fall back on. The streets is where it started.”

A lot of people in Federal Way make music, Pryor said, but someone needed to start breaking ground for the Northwest to get some recognition.

“Someone had to get a name for Federal Way. It needs a name,” he said.

Securing a spot for Northwest hip hop is proving challenging because grunge, the music that emerged from Seattle in the early 1990s, established the region’s musical reputation.

“You’re clouded by it, that’s what the industry thinks,” Henry said. “They’re kind of shocked by it. They say they didn’t know there was hip hop out here.”

Henry and Ken and Rion Pryor want to set up Tre’dmarx so it’s at the forefront when eyes fall on the West Coast. Their six-month plan is to saturate the local market, reach across the state and eventually make inroads into cities across the country.

Eventually, they want to distribute for other labels.

While the label is a new endeavor for the Tre’dmarx trio, the three aren’t new to music. Rap, hip hop and blues have called to them since they were little boys.

BustaRhymes is the artist who changed everything for Henry when he was in the third grade.

“That was me. I saw me,” he said. “I saw the vide - Federal Way Mirror

Hangout: On the Dot
by TODD HAMM mdash; November 23, 2009
Abuzz with Grammy hype, Tacoma’s unknown star makes it clear that he isn’t going anywhere.

It’s hard to get a beat on Quincy Henry. He doesn’t like the term “rapper,” or “producer,” or even “artist.” Those words are too restrictive. The man they call Q Dot settles instead for “hip hop musician.” Rapping, producing, singing, he has done it all for himself on his first two albums. What little he couldn’t do, he handed over to the man beside him at Cutter’s Point on a recent Friday, sipping chai: manager, business partner and longtime friend Maurice Thornton.

This coffee shop on busy Pacific Avenue in downtown Tacoma is the duo’s favorite hangout. “There’s an energy here I can’t quite put my finger on,” says Henry while sipping on a blueberry tea. “I love it.” In a crisp burgundy sweater pulled over a vibrant gold and grey shirt-and-tie combo, the twenty-six-year-old Q Dot looks like Kanye West circa College Dropout, while Thornton is all business, plus a flashy pair of diamond earrings. The coffee shop rests below a tall brick apartment complex that overlooks the Thea Foss Inlet of Commencement Bay. It was in his fourth-floor apartment here that Henry wrote and recorded the better part of the most recent Q Dot album, Underground Railroad, which got a lot of attention after making the initial ballot for this year’s Grammy Awards.

“I signed up for everything I was eligible for, even Best Liner Notes,” Henry says, laughing at his own eagerness, then rattling off a long list of other categories he checked off. He says he was amazed to find himself on the ballot in seven different categories — although Best Liner Notes was not one of them.

Although Q Dot’s selection came as a surprise to many in the area’s hip hop community, it only reaffirms the notion that Henry’s sparse, danceable instrumentals appeal more to a mainstream audience than to the decidedly grittier tastes of the local indie rap crowd. Admittedly something of an outsider looking in on the bustling Seattle scene, the Tacoma native says he’s content to “stay home and carry the flag” — to bring the mainstream sound to the Northwest rather than the other way around.

Henry is no stranger to such brushes with commercial success. He has been on the radar of the major labels, he says, since he came a plane ticket away from signing a record contract with Interscope a few years back. Plans were derailed when the representative he was dealing with left the label the week before the two were scheduled to meet in California. Not easily deterred, Henry took the news as a sign that he was supposed to go the independent route, and he began to push his own product. Now, with a small distribution offer from Universal, and the Grammys’ encouragement, opportunities seem to be opening up on a national level, if not locally.

Outside the coffee shop, Henry savors the last of his tea, joking that he will name his next album Blueberry in tribute. A few minutes later, we’re listening to some of his new tracks as the two point out some of their favorite haunts from the seats of Thornton’s “Marks Mobile.” The car is a glossy black BMW 330x with a large white decal for the duo’s record label, Tre’dmarks Music Group, slapped in the middle of the tinted back window. “In this album, you really get to the core of Q,” says Thornton as he makes a turn. Looking out the window, Henry says he has plans for Tacoma.

Henry talks about the history he can feel in these streets, and his hopes to revitalize some of the barer elements of the neighborhood. “You got all of this arts and music and young energy mixed in with all of this old energy that’s already here,” he says. “It’s gonna be big. It might take a while, but it’ll be big out here.”

As the two drop me off at my car near the coffee shop, Henry hands me a copy of Underground Railroad with the self-assured look of someone who’s on the verge of accomplishing big things, insisting it’s his best work to date. Turning the CD over in my hand, I nod and say thanks. Then I tell him to work on his liner notes.

- City Arts Magazine

So I realized I've been slacking—we've got some real business to take care of here. We lost some HUGE heroes of this hiphop shit in recent weeks, and I want to say rest in power to Grandmaster Roc Raida, one of the most innovative turntablists of our time—in fact, one of the key reasons "turntablist" is even a viable descriptor. With his crew the X-Ecutioners (fka the X-Men), he revolutionized the way a Technics Direct-Drive could be driven, and from all accounts he was a good, stand-up dude. RIP, and much love to his family and crew. I'd also like to dedicate this to Mr. Magic, WBLS radio host who founded the original Rap Attack, who with Marley Marl by his side was the first to bring hiphop to mainstream radio. Without his influence, who knows what would've happened? Hiphop, as powerful a force as it was even then, might have died on the vine, written off as a local phenomenon. (Take a lesson in this!) RIP!

On a more hopeful note, I want to send a shout to my homeboy James "Talksick" Sullivan—get better, G. We need you here to talk that shit and rep the true school (and 206 Zulu) right. I hereby promise to buy you a pitcher of beer, and if I could give you an old-school tape you didn't already have, I would.

On another hopeful note, I wanna shout out Federal Way MC/producer Q Dot, a very talented cat who has found his name on the 2009 Grammy ballot for Best New Artist, Album of the Year, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song, Best R&B/Alternative Song, and Best Short Form Video (holy shit). This doesn't mean he's nominated, but it means he's in the running, which I must say is pretty fucking major for a NW artist. Q Dot was kind enough to send me his recently released Underground Railroad album, and I see why it'd make their short list—it's commercial in terms of quality, production value, and wide appeal, but still not your typical emulatory radio rap. There's the expected odes to good living, but it's never at the expense of honesty, a balance I wish more cats round here could manage. Dude got bars, style, and soul, and is quite the double threat, as he handles all the production (which quite admirably bridges club-bangers and OutKast-bluesiness) himself. Just peep the cut "Music," which is a particularly great example of just that. He's on MySpace—go find him at /qdotmusic and get you some.

Lastly, I just wanna say how goddamn proud I am of this town and everything going on. If you're sitting there grumbling, you're doing it wrong—contribute something dope for public record, grind behind it, and uplift the shit if you're not feeling it. This year started out at its darkest for the local community, and now look. So don't a single motherfucker let the strides being made be tainted by petty grievances and fractiousness, no matter who you are—if there are issues, fucking figure it out for the good of everyone. Because that shit is done, period. Climbing off soapbox... now .


- The Stranger

So I realized I've been slacking—we've got some real business to take care of here. We lost some HUGE heroes of this hiphop shit in recent weeks, and I want to say rest in power to Grandmaster Roc Raida, one of the most innovative turntablists of our time—in fact, one of the key reasons "turntablist" is even a viable descriptor. With his crew the X-Ecutioners (fka the X-Men), he revolutionized the way a Technics Direct-Drive could be driven, and from all accounts he was a good, stand-up dude. RIP, and much love to his family and crew. I'd also like to dedicate this to Mr. Magic, WBLS radio host who founded the original Rap Attack, who with Marley Marl by his side was the first to bring hiphop to mainstream radio. Without his influence, who knows what would've happened? Hiphop, as powerful a force as it was even then, might have died on the vine, written off as a local phenomenon. (Take a lesson in this!) RIP!

On a more hopeful note, I want to send a shout to my homeboy James "Talksick" Sullivan—get better, G. We need you here to talk that shit and rep the true school (and 206 Zulu) right. I hereby promise to buy you a pitcher of beer, and if I could give you an old-school tape you didn't already have, I would.

On another hopeful note, I wanna shout out Federal Way MC/producer Q Dot, a very talented cat who has found his name on the 2009 Grammy ballot for Best New Artist, Album of the Year, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song, Best R&B/Alternative Song, and Best Short Form Video (holy shit). This doesn't mean he's nominated, but it means he's in the running, which I must say is pretty fucking major for a NW artist. Q Dot was kind enough to send me his recently released Underground Railroad album, and I see why it'd make their short list—it's commercial in terms of quality, production value, and wide appeal, but still not your typical emulatory radio rap. There's the expected odes to good living, but it's never at the expense of honesty, a balance I wish more cats round here could manage. Dude got bars, style, and soul, and is quite the double threat, as he handles all the production (which quite admirably bridges club-bangers and OutKast-bluesiness) himself. Just peep the cut "Music," which is a particularly great example of just that. He's on MySpace—go find him at /qdotmusic and get you some.

Lastly, I just wanna say how goddamn proud I am of this town and everything going on. If you're sitting there grumbling, you're doing it wrong—contribute something dope for public record, grind behind it, and uplift the shit if you're not feeling it. This year started out at its darkest for the local community, and now look. So don't a single motherfucker let the strides being made be tainted by petty grievances and fractiousness, no matter who you are—if there are issues, fucking figure it out for the good of everyone. Because that shit is done, period. Climbing off soapbox... now .


- The Stranger