Nicknames given to me throughout the years have stuck and I've made slight changes to the ones I didn't like :o) but yes my middle initial is really Q, for Quincy, you might have seen my movie featuring Denzel haha! John Q. baby! I'm a classic...

Yes. I've performed at open mic events, no fear, sober or not :o) I love the crowd participation and I feel lucky to say I've NEVER been booed at a live show so I know my fans feel the positive energy from the moment I step up... One classic moment was in 1999 at a talent show in Tallahassee - I gave the DJ a tape of me beatboxing for 4 minutes and I synchronized my flow with the beat, but I forgot the lines to my rapsong halfway through so I freestyled the rest of the way with no problems :o) everybody knew what happened but they appreciated how I pulled it off - except for that darn 2nd place finish!!

You don't have to be as much of a social butterfly and performing at live shows isn't as necessary when your 'net game' is up to par... I'm one generation removed from the cyberspace boom and I think the younger audiences & the newer artists today may have more online up-to-the-minute access to one another but, in a sense, there's more of a personal disconnect from each other because there aren't as many

Yes... distribution and marketing is paramount, if you don't have the know how to sell 100,000 "out of the trunk" and get another 500,000 online clicks, you might as well sign up to a major label... I'm not naive to think I can generate those numbers on my own without having a major following at this point...

1979 - ...the rest is history :o)

1980's baby. As a child growing up in Connecticut, I would hear the ol' heads playing Rick James, Marvin Gaye, Black Moses, Michael Jackson, the Ohio Players, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, EarthWind&Fire, Chaka Khan, Betty Wright, Bob Marley, gospel, golden oldies you name it... Good vibez are in my blood... My grandmother played the piano/organ for years at her church, my father & uncles play the guitar... I've been writing rhymes & beat-boxing since 2nd grade, FatBoys, LL Cool J's early albums changed my life! Back & forth to visit family from Miami to South Carolina to California to Chi-Town to New York I was checking for what my cousins were listening to so I was in CT rockin 2Live Crew, DJ Quik, EightBall MJG, Ghetto Boys & that House music early! I'm blessed to have traveled so much at an early age... On a trip to NYC I had my mom buy me Run DMC's Tougher Than Leather album & "Beats to the Rhyme" changed my life... One of my favorite 5 beats of all time & I gotta throw Eric B. & Rakim's "Follow the Leader" on that list too... KRS-ONE, BigDaddyKane, Slick Rick, KoolGRap & NWA shaped my outlook on how impactful an emcee's words should be so of course I think the majority of these newborn producers & rappers are weak, but that's my 2cents... The sexiest movement to see as a youth was watching Sheila E., MC Lyte, Roxanne Shante & Salt-n-Pepa rock da mic! Janet Jackson's Control album (Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis' sound) changed my life! New Edition was cool but Bobby Brown, BBD & Guy (Teddy Riley's sound) changed my life! Money Earnin', Native Tongue, GangStarr's "Just to Get a Rep"changed my life!... Das EFX "Bum-Stickety-Bum!", WuTangClan, Nas, Mobb Deep & all that '90's era... Not only Hip-Hop, but early on RUSH, VanHalen, Guns-n-Roses, etc. changed my life too! Over the years I've welcomed Hip-Hop, the NewJackSwing & rock-n-roll into my old soul's DNA... Worst case scenario, if ya style sucks, I can find atleast one good song on any album, 1 song per hour on any radio station, any genre, 9 times out of 10... My inspirations come from an unique blend...

Miami, NYC, Las Vegas, London, Rio de Janero, any museum of fine arts, pool halls/sports bars, outdoor music festivals, inside a recording studio

Korg Trinity/Triton, Yamaha Motif, Roland GrooveBox, Fruity Loops, Acid, Human BeatBox, Guitar...

I'm just happy to see 2012, I'll let the music speak for itself!! Support quality music & stay tuned...