Following is the interview with the very talented artist Quanstar. It was a pleasure talking to him because it is clear that he knows his hip hop history and that he grew up in the culture. Not only that, but he represents for the "common man," which is rare in these days. His new album, The Underdog will be out in two days (July 27th), so make sure you check out the songs ("Caffeine Hustlaz" and "Summertime") placed directly after the interview, go to the website for the album, and enjoy the interview!

First, I want to thank you for taking the time to hold this interview. Before we really jump into things, why don’t you give a brief introduction as to who you are so that people can become more familiar with you?

Well, I’m Quanstar. I’m an emcee first and foremost. I came in the game around 2001. I’m originally from LA, from Compton, CA. I relocated from Compton to Atlanta to go to school at Clark. I was doing hip hop tours from 2001 to 2004 and dropped my first solo album the following year. Since then I’ve just been trying to tour twice a year, building a fan base. The Underdog is thefourth solo project and I’ve been doing all of this independent. I’ve never had a manager, never been signed, been my own PR person, for the most part I’ve been my head booking agent. I just wanted to do everything the right way and not deal with the B.S. most people have to put up with doing a major deal early in their career.

 

And what is the significance of your name?

My government name is Janale Da' Quan, so growing up my family and friends would always call me “Quan.” And so, you know when people would tag and everything, their signature would usually be their name and they would add “ster” to end of it. So, when I would tag, I would sign it “Quanster”, but one day my friend, she said I shouldstart using “Quanstar” because she said I was always acting like a star, so that’s how it came about.

 

That’s an interesting twist. And when I was reading you bio,I saw how you were involved in most of the founding hip hop activities; the break dancing, tagging, rhyming. You basically came from all of that.

Yeah, because what people don’t really know was that LA was like hip hop heaven in the early ‘90s. Everybody was rhymin’. It didn’t matter if you were a thug or whatever, you needed to be able to bust. People were always trying to rap, cats were dancin’, and everybody tagged a little something’. I was more into rappin’ and dancin’, though. Taggin’ was number 4 or 5 on pecking order, but that’s just how LA was. The thugs one the block wanted to hear me rap and people were always trying to battle. LA was just different. You had to be endorsed. Like E-40 could do atrack or show with Souls of Mischief. You don’t get that anywhere else but Cali.

 

Yeah, there seems to be this misconception about the West Coast, and specifically LA that it was just gangsta rap. All they connect it with are groups like N.W.A., but from what you’re saying, it was the same sort of feeling in LA as it was in New York.

Yeah, and even in the case of N.W.A., those cats had to be able to bust! People don’t understand thatpeople in LA grew up on Public Enemy, but they were bumpin’ Spice 1, too. They grew up on all that, so dudes were surprised when they realized everybody in LA could bust harder. 

 

You mention moving from Compton to Atlanta, but you don’t really have a West Coast or a down South sound. Why do you think that is?

I don’t know. I don’t really have thoughts regarding any of that. It’s not generically made. It’s just important how I feel. If I hear a dope beat, then I just start writing. I want to say that there’s some big thing behind it, but it’s not. It’s how I feel and the things I go through when I rhyme. It’s probably also my influences. I listened to everybody; Melle Mel, LL, Common, Souls of Mischief, UGK. I was listening to all of this in high school, non-stop. I was a hip hop head!

 

Those influences really come through in your music. A lot of times people try to mimic a sound or a style and it doesn’t sound organic, but given your history, the fact that you don’t sound like a particular region or person is good. Talk a little bit about your experience like when you were down at Clark?

I went to Clark for a couple of years. Honestly, I didn’t wanna be there. I didn’t want to be in college. I didn’t know why I was there. I  just knew I had to get out of Comptonfor a while. Around that time, sh*t was real hectic. It was a couple years after the riots and I knew if I didn’t get out…I saw people get caught up and I saw my friends that were 21 who had no intentions of ever leaving Cali, so I just wanted to get out. School was that way of getting out.

 

I wrote a blog not too long ago about how school is about education, but even more than that it’s about the experiences and getting out of your comfort zone. I went to school in Michigan and it was just so that I could get away and see different things.

And even after college, I walked around for 2 or 3 years, just fu**ed up. Working these horrible jobs, I wanted something different, something more. I may have never wanted that if I hadn’t gone to college. I might have still been a rapper, I don’t know, but I might have been talking about completely different things or doing completely different things.

 

I want to transition to the music for a minute. So you have The Underdog coming out. The title seems self-explanatory, but what is the motivation behind it? Why did you feel it was appropriate to drop it now? This is your fourth album in 9 years in the game, right?

Naw, it’s actually the fourth in 5 years. I was originally in a hip hop band called First Team and we dropped a couple albums in 2003 and 2004. The first solo project was in 2005, title Sometimes You Gotta Stand Alone and my second album in 2006. I also did a documentary in 2008 called Do It!: Documentary and I did a soundtrack for that. We’re actually going to re-release the documentary soon, but the message of The Underdog is…When you’ve been doin’ shows and you have connections to all these artists that have been signed…Let me put it this way because I don’t want to sound arrogant. When we came in this game, the things we do and how we did it, nobody really fu**ed with us initially and then we made this thought like “We’re not unsigned, we’re independent.” That was our thought process. Even in ATL, one or two cats were getting signed to majors, one or two cats were getting signed to independents, but me and my crew stayed on our grind. We would take a step, plan things out, tape a step, plan things out. By doing that, we been catching up with a lot of cats. And it’s not a competition or anything, but we have just as many people come to see us at a spot as the rest of these cats. Calling the album, myself, my crew, the underdog, it’s because we did a lot of things against knowledge. We went against what the music books say, what people in the industry say, what the A&Rs say, and we still did it! We didn’t take a traditional route. I don’t do numbers or talk about number of records sold. I don’t care about that. I will say this though. At no point have I had more than $4,000 to market with. I’ve had 6 national tours that I booked, that we put together and they were paid for! Nobody on the tour has to put up any money. All they gotta do is ride. That’s a huge accomplishment in music. Plus, it’s just how I do it. I got kids, and they’re pretty much my constant thought when I rap.

 

Speaking of your kids, what I really appreciated about your music, and the reason I wanted to have you on the blog, is how honest you are in the music. Specifically, in songs like “Summertime,” you have songs that talk about your wife and your family, which is very rare to hear nowadays. Even when artists are married, they will still make songs flaunting about how many women they are with and whatnot. Why have you chosen not to do that?

Up until about the time I was 23, I fu**ed up a huge portion of my life. After that, I told myself I was gonna do [the music] the right way and speak from my heart. I’m a family man. That’s where it comes from. As much as I tour, I still have a job. I do other things, but a huge portion of my life is at home working. My office is in my home, so I’m always around my family and my kids I don’t party. I don’t really go out unless I’m promoting. I don’t have a dream car. No matter how much money I make, you won’t hear me talking about my dream car. I’m more worried about the mileage on the car. I’ve been on that single life type of stuff. I’ve been there, but I’m a family man. I spend pretty much 89% of my time in Atlanta with my family.

 

It’s really refreshing to hear somebody really “keep it real.” Another song that caught my attention was “Caffeine Hustlaz.” Did you used to work at a coffee shop or were you just trying represent for all those on their grind?

I worked for a coffee corporation. I can’t say their name, but I worked for them for 8 years. Don’t get me wrong, as far as companies go, it was a great company, if you wanna work for someone. My thing has always been music. I let everybody there know that, and they accepted it. But, when you don’t wanna do anything but music, after 7,8 years it wears on you. And let me tell you this, coffee customers are some of the worst customers on the planet. They always complain about the drink, they think they know how to make the drink, when they don’t. Really, 95% of them don’t even know how to pronounce the name. This one particular time, this dude tried to bullsh*t his way into getting a free drink. He came talking about it was the wrong drink, he had his girl there, made a whole scene. We eventually had to give him a new drink, but I was so stressed off and pissed off already that after we served him, I took a break and went out and wrote that song. Working for the company, it wasn’t all bad, but it was the most stressful job I’ve ever had.

 

On the song “Bank,” you not only state, but repeat that half of your first million dollars is going to charity. What issues are you most concerned and passionate about?

Let me say this, the world is not racial. The powers that be make it seem racial. The world is about economics…funds. What they do is put all these poor people together, against each other, and they don’t focus on what the issue is. They put them at a tea party and they say “This black president is fu**in’ your sh*t up.” So, the poor white people are talking about taxes, when taxes is lower than it’s been in years and years. They point out health care, but most people are on Medicaid. A lot of people don’t see that. One of the founders of the Tea Party was a millionaire saying “Think about me, don’t think about yourself.” If you’re white and you’re poor, you got a lot more in common with people in Compton than you do with somebody that’s wealthy. I’ve performed in Charleston, West Virginia. I got more in common with people there than somewhere that has a lot of money. It’s all about money. So what I want to do is teach people what credit is really about. Educating people on investing for the future, how money flows, how the FDIC goes, how the bank really runs. Talk about that 1% you get back on your account from the bank don’t mean sh*t because the bank is getting 12% from your money. The other thing I’m really passionate about is helping families. I’m gonna help families that work hard, that do everything they need to do, and take them through a one year course. I’m gonna pick a family from ATL, from Compton, from Oakland, from these different areas and get them a house. We’ll show them how to mix it up, show them what they need to do to maintain it. That’s what I want to be involved in.

 

It’s good to see somebody who really wants to be involved and raise awareness. The key to changing anything is awareness. Given that you’ve been independent this long now and you have been able to do all these things on your own, are you just not even considering being signed?

It’s not that I would take a label deal or anything. I’ve been approached, been offered vehicles and everything, but it’s not about that. I want creative control of my project. I want to own my masters and publishing. I have a book coming soon. I have documentary. I want freedom to do all these things. If those can be guaranteed contractually, then we can do that. It’s probably not gonna happen. For me to be signed should mean my situation is being increased. It’s the same situation just on a bigger scale.

 

That’s where a lot of people get screwed is signing away their masters and publishing. That’s probably stressed more than anything else.

Yeah, that’s where you really make the money. That’s why the labels want to keep it.

 

I love asking this next question, and so I’m interested to hear your response. If you were introducing somebody to hip hop for the first time, what album would you give them and why?

That’s a good one…I’ll probably end up giving them “The Message” the song. It’s the greatest song to me, for a number of reasons. The sample can still run today. I have favorite albums and favorite groups, but everybody started at that point. I would have said Resurrection from Common or Black Star, but all that came from “The Message.” I bet if you were to ask all these guys, “The Message” is in their top 5.

 

That’s true. That’s definitely where the social and political commentary of hip hop started.

But it’s even more than that. It was anything other than party music. The way you ride the bass and melody like you do. All that came from that song. Hip Hop was reinvented in that song. It wasn’t just the lyrics, but how it was done and arranged. That’s probably the most powerful song in hip hop history.

 

If nothing else, what should people take away from this interview?

Just that I love hip hop and I love my kids. And I have a good album because of it. Check out the website at quanstarmusic.com. I also have a national tour that I’ve been putting together for years now called the Bring Your A Game Tour. They can go to www.bringyouragametour.com for more information. Shout out to my folks, Ghani Gautama, Evaready RAW, and Dlabrie, and my DJ, Metronome. He produced “Caffeine Hustlaz.” Shout out Juicy the Emissary, Lexzyne Production for the songs they did on the album. I actually met them on Twitter. I loveTwitter. It really allows you to connect and network with people.

 

Where can they pick the album up?

The album comes out on July 27^th and for now it’s gonna be on the website. I had a little glitch with my distributors, so it’ll be at all digital stores a few weeks after it comes out. It’s a strictly digital release, so they can just goto the website now and it’ll be at all digital stores soon after that.

 

Well, I appreciate your time. Good luck with the album and everything else.

I appreciate the interview and having a chance to speak to your crowd.

Caffeine Hustlaz

Summertime

We're finally back again, and the next two posts will be highlighting artists that deserve some shine. The artists I want to focus on for this post are The Lyricists. The group is made up of Rym-B and Illtone out of Port Huron, MI (Rym-B is originally from Detroit) and represent the foundation of hip hop. Be clear, although this may be the first time you've heard of them, these aren't rookies. These dudes have been putting in work for over 10 years, with their first release, Outta Nowhere, in 2000. They have since released two more albums, Anti-Industry (2003; ironic huh?) and L3 or "Level 3" (2005). They've also dropped a number of EPs and mixtapes.

Before we get started on the reaction, let me give a brief summary of the case for those whom may not know. On New Year's Eve of last year, Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old African American male, whom was arrested and face-down on the ground, was shot in the back and killed by former police officer Johannes Mehserle at the Fruitvale BART Station in Oakland, CA. The entire act was caught on multiple camera phones which were shown on national television multiple times after it happened. Mehserle has testified that he mistook his gun for his taser although it has  been reported that he was holding his taser shortly before he drew his weapon and shot Grant. The trial, which was moved to Los Angeles, has brought about much controversy because the jury did not hold a single African American. This has obviously had many of the makings of the Rodney King incident in 1991. Mehserle was going up against three counts; 1) second degree murder, 2) voluntary manslaughter, 3) involuntary manslaughter (or acquittal). In what most would assume to be an open-and-shut case, people still feared that Mehserle would get the least severe punishment (involuntary manslaughter) or even worse, acquittal. People's fears came true today (July 8, 2010) when the jury came to a decision, after only one full day of deliberations, of guilty of involuntary manslaughter. By law, involuntary manslaughter carries a sentence of anywhere from 2-4 years in prison, but many believe that Mehserle may get nothing more than probation (the sentencing is not until the beginning of August). << MORE >>

Something that really annoys me about most rappers (I am including both rappers and MCs when I say this) is their interviews. It amazes me that these people who create some of the most amazing poetry and art (now speaking strictly about MCs) and are able to articulate themselves so well in the form of music can give such bad interviews. They rarely give details on their own (usually the person conducting the interview has to pry information out of them) and everybody sounds exactly the same. There are more "nah mean," "you know," and the classic "at the end of the day" than there is actual substance in the interview. Everybody tends to sound exactly the same and it is only every now and then that you can actually get into an interview.<< MORE >>

In showing our respect to those that have helped hip hop reach the heights that it has, there is probably nobody that is more deserving of this than Sylvia Robinson. She was the one that brought hip hop to the mainstream. A friendly rap battle between three strangers in New Jersey, in the back of her son's Oldsmobile, led Sylvia to put all three together and form the Sugar Hill Gang (and sign them to Sugar Hill Records). This led to the single that we all know and love (at least most people) "Rapper's Delight," which reached #4 on the R&B charts in 1979. This was the first hip hop song to reach the pop charts and introduce the world to a new genre (and eventually lifestyle).

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Often I get people that send me music that isn't really worth of me listening to at all and usually goes against the very things I speak about in the blog, however the two tracks I have posted below don't fit in that category. I wanted to pass this off to you guys because I think that it's different, but...<< MORE >>

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There is not enough that can be said about Afrika Bambaataa. He is the Godfather of hip hop and as one of the premiere pioneers of hip hop, it was only right that I add him to the "Respect Due" column. He has been so instrumental in shaping what hip hop is (or at least what it was intended to be in not what it has actually become in eyes of many) and continues to do his part to help not only hip hop, but the world. As the founder of the Universal Zulu Nation...<< MORE >>

 

Here is Straight Outta Hip Hop's track-by-track review of Distant Relatives. Read it here and give us your take.<< MORE >>