Q DA KID...
Who would have ever thought that a small borough in New York would have such a great impact on today’s musical landscape, Brooklyn has bred two of hip-hop’s greatest MC’s, also known as Christopher “Biggie†Wallace and Sean “Jay-Z†Carter. What natives refer to as BK, is also the birthplace of Kareem “Q DA KID†Savage, yes this borough has cultivated a bevy of talented freestyle battle kings and a rapper per square mile. But, Q DA KID is not just another rapper from Brooklyn, he’s a highly-skilled, extremely-polished, and not to mention, remarkable wordsmith. His music has that ‘rewind’ effect on people, where his clever wordplay leads them to ask, "did you just hear what he said?"Q DA KID may have been focused on getting money, but making music was never far from his mind and in between hustling, he found time to perfect his pen, writing lyrics on whatever was available and keeping them in a safe place, they may have been out of his sight but they weren’t out of mind. He formed a group with fellow Brooklynites, Red Cafe and Gravy, called Da Franchise. The group began recording songs for their album and countless verses for mix tapes, which created a solid fan base, and garnered the attention of Chris Lighty, CEO of Violator Management (home of 50 Cent, Missy Elliot, Busta Rhymes), who signed the group. Creative differences and political obstacles led to short-lived contract, however, Q DA KID learned how the machine that is the music business worked and decided to pursue his solo career.He embarked on a guerilla street marketing campaign, lending his hot 16’s to any and every unknown DJ who produced mix tapes. Thus, gaining the attention of veteran, record-breaking DJs, all of whom featured Q DA KID on a host of mix tapes; among them were DJ Clue, Kay Slay, and DJ Khaled. Mastering the art of New York street buzz, Q realized he needed to broaden his horizon, so he relocated to Atlanta. He utilized a similar strategy in this new, bustling metropolis and sparked the attention of one of the city’s most prominent and highly respected DJs, Greg Street.It was inevitable that Q’s critical street acclaim and rapidly growing hype would soon lead to music executives asking, “Who is Q DA KID?†Fortunately, one of those inquiring executives, turned out to be music mogul, Jermaine Dupri. JD recognized Q’s pure talent combined with his incredible ambition fueled by his hunger for the art of music and quickly put Q DA KID in the studio.As a result of this merging of artist and mogul, Q landed his first major feature on Da Brat’s ‘World Premiere’ and the blockbuster hit movie soundtrack, Drumline (produced by Dallas Austin) whom Q has also worked with. His confident, yet humble demeanor and his obvious skill lead JD to sign Q DA KID to the multi-platinum So So Def/Virgin imprint in summer 2006.Since inking his deal, it seems the rap phenomenon has barely slept. He has landed features on the following Billboard no.1 single remixes, ‘Make Me Better’ Fabolous feat. Neyo, ‘Noone’ Alicia Keys, ‘Fine’ Mary J. Blige, ‘Can’t Help But Wait’ Trey Songz and the breakthrough single ‘Fire’ for super group, Nephu. In between creating chart-topping features, he’s putting the finishing touches on his debut album, he’s been crafting hits with NO I.D. (Jay-Z), The Runners (Rick Ross), DJ Khaled, DJ Cannon (Young Jeezy), and a host of others.Not only is Q DA KID an amazing lyricist, he too, is a humanitarian, working closely with The Glenn Toby Organization and the Book Bank Foundation, to show the younger generation that it’s nothing wrong with taking the road less traveled, better yet, creating your own path. Q DA KID…HUSTLE WITHOUT STRATEGY IS A POINTLESS GRIND...ALMOST FAMOUS.
