YOUNG QUON
It has been considered one of the hotbeds of hip-hop for the past few years, dominating the national charts while loosening the stronghold the once unbeatable east and west coasts held for much too long. A region where the mostly scorchin sun inspires the most blazin of bouncin, club-bangin beats and the hard-hittin, drawl-induced rhyme flows are put down like the coolest of glasses of lemonade, the dirty south sound has become a continued presence not only on radio stations across the country, but a consistent favorite in millions of music lovers personal collections. And what night out at one of Any City, U.S.A.s scores of popular hip-hop clubs would be complete without the sweat-inducing, floor-filling lure of a gritty, wall-rattling break-out joint straight outta A-T-L, Miami, Houston, New Orleans or the Carolinas? Like a fast n furious-moving tornado sweeping across hot plains, feverishly grabbing everything within its reach, Louisiana-via-Arizona-via-Texas native YOUNG QUON has every intention of putting his distinctively south-west sounding stamp on the rap game with his Doin It Movin debut CD (B Storm Enterprises), a collection of hot joints listeners wont be able to resist upon first exposure. Then again, why would they even want to?
Not exactly your run-of-the-mill MC reppin one particular city or state, YOUNG QUONs sound effortlessly bares the influence of a life spent shuttling between New Orleans (his birthplace), Tucson and Amarillo/Houston. Raised within a family that had a high appreciation for music, youngster DeQuon (his given name) found himself honing an eclectic music palate from the start.
Growing up, I heard everything from blues like Bobby Blue Bland and soul to gospel. Because of my family being so much into music, I can name stuff that cats my age wouldnt know nothing about. My mom was a great singer who just happened to never do anything with her gift.
After discovering his own gift, YOUNG QUON was dead-set on making sure that didnt happen with him. Fully taken in by raps prominence and influence in his adolescence, YOUNG QUON knew that a career within the music game was in his future. I was like twelve or thirteen rapping here in Texas, he recounts, and I was doing my thing in Arizona when I hooked up with my executive producer, who is like my big brother, Robot. He was trying to invest his money into the music, so we hooked up, a little time went by and we were still doing our thing. Even after permanently moving back to Texas with his family, YOUNG QUON found himself making trips to Arizona to continue his music interests. By the time he was eighteen, whole summers were spent in Arizona developing his flow and honing his skills in the recording studio. They were just little demos while I was still kinda getting familiar with working in the studio. It was all new to me. By the time his mentor, Robot, jump-started B Storm Enterprises in 1999, QUON knew that things were moving in the right direction. After initially releasing a west coast rapper who garnered a lukewarm reception, B Storms focus switched in YOUNG QUONs direction with the release of a multi-artist CD. Me and my partner from Los Angeles teamed up together, although we were separate artists, he recounts of his first stab at a breakthrough. We teamed up for that CD and called ourselves The Fam, and the CD was called A Day in a Life.
While the ambitious set boasted everything from each acts solo cuts to guest features from the likes of 80s R&B star El DeBarge, it was the infectious Daily Bread, YOUNG QUONs blazin collabo with Bay Area rap don E-40, that caught the biggest buzz. Along with finding its way into the movie Guilty By Association (starring Morgan Freeman), Daily Bread gave YOUNG QUON his first taste of notoriety outside of Texas. It was something to kinda get my feet wet, so I went around and did some promotion. We moved all around the south, throughout Georgia and South Carolina. I was in New Orleans and I checked for it, and they said, Oh, we had it, but it got bought out. So, it got around a little bit. All the while, he continued recording material for his long-in-the-works full-length debut CD in Phoenix with producer IRoc Beatz, shifting gears only once to work with Georgia-based producer Gigolo, who brought a more southern-oriented rap sound to his already hot sound. In the interim, B Storm released QUONs Incredible, a joint he admits to not initially being wholeheartedly into that wound up keeping the local momentum surrounding his name. It kinda surprised me with the little buzz it got, he recalls. They played it out here on the radio stations and I got a good response from it, then they shot it out to some DJs who were ready to play it. They even played it on THE BOX out in Houston. Though distribution issues ultimately held the cut back from becoming an outright sales hit, it served its purpose of keeping his regional profile up while he continued gathering hot joints for his official debut and opening dates for the likes of Nelly, Trillville, Mystikal, Mack 10 and DJ Quik.
Recording half the album in Phoenix, and the other half in Dallas and in Houston at Studio 7303, creating Doin It Movin, brought forth a set flossing bangin beats laid by producers IRoc Beatz (out of Phoenix), Jiggolo (out of Georgia) and Houstons own Mr. Lee (of Slim Thug/Geto Boys notoriety), 25 year-old YOUNG QUONs flow has already drawn comparisons to that of the Goodie Mobs own Cee-Lo. While fully acknowledging the similarities in their raspy tones, QUON is quick to counter, I dont have the same subject matter as him, I dont rap like him and my sound isnt like his. I cant help it if I remind people of him. Instead, he feels his self-dubbed south-west sound a result of shuttling between the south and west during his youth distinguishes him from anyone else currently in the rap game. Im a Texas cat (Amarillo these days, to be exact) because Ive been out here for so long, but you can hear some west from me a little bit. But you hear the south at the same time. Well no doubt get a double-whammy dose of that distinguishing south-west flava with the steady-bumpin future hit Then And Now, his blazin collabo with similarly fast-rising Houston rapper Paul Wall. Inspired by his mentor Robot, the teaming finds the two on-the-come-up MCs lettin it rip on phony, jock-ridin types that accompany popularity. Its basically about cats that werent friendly with me when I was messed up like them and against the wall. But then I come up, and its like yall werent messin with me then. So why you wanna mess with me now? These cats see how I done came up and now theyre clutchin on my heat. If you werent tryna holla at me then, dont try to holla at me now.
Elsewhere on Doin It Movin (his full-length release), B Storm Enterprises YOUNG QUON assures that hell have something for every rap music fan to listen and relate to. Im talking about partying. Im talking about grindingyou know, trying to make it. Im talking about haters. Im talking about women and street stuff that people can relate to. Its all kinda stuff that Im trying to touch; I just want cats to feel what Im talking about. The game is so flooded that its hard to give everybody a chance. I know that once I get that chance and people hear me, theres no way I wont touch people. You can have hellafied lyrics and say this and that, but if your voice doesnt stick out its not happening. I have that sound going for me, so thats a blessing. Im gonna get your attention off the top. With his B Storm Enterprises-release in-stores on October 10, 2006 thru Fontana UMVD, look and listen out for YOUNG QUON armed with a trunk-load of hot joints -- to more than deliver on his promise.