After grinding for years, dropping mixtapes and not getting the attention he deserved, Miami artist QuESt has finally found his stride in 2014. With the help of Visionary Music Group (VMG) and a refined outlook, things have really come together. Earlier this year he joined VMG labelmate Logic on his North American While You Wait tour, increasing his fan base one performance at a time. With the release of Searching Sylvan, QuESt proved he’s more than a mixtape rapper and one of brightest stars in the game. There are few albums that have the pull of Searching Sylvan. It’s an extremely well crafted narrative that is deeply personal, impeccably produced and inspirational. From family issues, to street drama and his struggle to make it as an artist. Each track gives a piece of QuESt’s life and leaves the listener feeling like they’ve been a fan for years or even a friend who’s watched him through the journey. We had the honour of connecting with QuESt to discuss the project, his relationship with Visionary Music Group, Kendrick Lamar comparisons and much more. Check out the full interview below and get familiar with one of best rappers of 2014.
FWI: How did you connect with Visionary Music Group and how much has the relationship impacted your career?
QuESt: It was just really organic. I knew about Logic’s music back in 2009/2010, vaguely from a friend and I heard his name a couple times. I actually had a meeting in Atlantic in 2011 where I met Chris from Visionary and it was really crazy, he knew a friend of mine and that’s kind of how we connected. Shortly after, Logic connected with me via Twitter and he reached out and had a couple phone calls and it was really cool. He respected my music and I respected his. That grew into me doing five dates on the first VMG tour. Then a year later Chris reached out to ask me to be a part of the company and I’ve been riding with them ever since. Visionary more than anything has given me the platform to be heard on a level that I wanted to be heard on.
“VMG, yes nigga VMG, only competition that we see is TDE” – 24 Freestyle
FWI: On ‘24 Freestyle’ you said the only competition for VMG is TDE. Looking back how do you feel about that quote?
QuESt: I said the quote because I knew that it was going to be a moment. When we were recording the freestyle it was Bobby’s birthday and he was like, “I want to get all of us on here and I want to put this out,” and I was like “Alright, cool.” I felt like it was an opportunity for me to make a statement. When I said the line it was more just out of my admiration and respect for TDE. Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q, Isaiah Rashad, SZA, I think everybody over there is amazing. TDE is one of the only labels that we really look up to in the sense that we want to be better than these guys. That’s really what it was, it was a statement that was like, “let’s make some noise, let’s get a couple people talking, let’s keep the conversation going.” But there’s nothing but love and respect for those guys. I hope to have the amount of success that they have acquired so far.
FWI: When the track dropped it seemed like a bit of bold statement but as you’ve come through the year with the release of Searching Sylvan and Logic’s album it doesn’t seems so bold.
QuESt: Sometimes the best way to gain attention is to say something bold. It wasn’t like, “yeah, we’re better than TDE.” I don’t have that hanging over my head whatsoever. It’s no different than Jay saying “only dudes moving units Em, Pimp Juice, and us.” Just stating what you feel. I think it’s dope cause people still hit me up about that line. I think it’s cool.
FWI: Earlier this year you accompanied Logic on the While You Wait tour. What was your most memorable experience?
QuESt: The one story that was absolutely amazing for me was coming back home. I was performing at Ft. Lauderdale and there was this fan who was waiting outside for me at the bus. I went inside to meet her and she started balling and crying. She was like, “You know, you saved my life on so many occasions. I don’t know if you know that. Tomorrow I’m going on a cruise to Hawaii to chase my dreams. I’m going to be doing my dream job and if it wasn’t for you and your music I don’t know if I would have survived and got to this point.” It was the best going away present and was the most amazing moment that I think I’ve had, probably in my career as well. As an artist, I live to help people and to have people live vicariously through my struggles, successes and my wins, cause I like to think of myself as the everyday guy. That was my moment, I was like, “wow this is amazing.”
FWI: That’s an awesome story. It’s crazy to see that you’re really impacting people on that level.
QuESt: Yeah it brings me back to when I was listening to Lupe and Jay-Z and the people that I consider my heroes. If it wasn’t for their music I wouldn’t have gotten through. Now I’m having that same effect with someone else. It’s amazing man, it’s a really amazing feeling.
FWI: Did you and Logic bounce ideas off each other when working on your albums?
QuESt: Not really. Logic wasn’t a critical part of this project. He had a couple records that he produced. There were two ideas that he did lend. The first idea was ‘May 10th, 2012’ being at the end of the album and looping back to the beginning. I was playing the record cause me and 6ix were making the record at his crib actually, and we had a session where we made that and ‘Hunger’. He came in and he was like “Yo man you should put that at the end of your album and just let it loop continuously” and I didn’t think about it. At first I wasn’t really into it. But the more I thought about it and the more I thought about what I was saying in the record, it just made so much sense.
FWI: Was it initially meant to go at the very beginning to open the album?
QuESt: The funny thing is that it wasn’t meant to go on the album at all. ‘May 10th, 2012’ was going to be like a warm-up single, just to put it out and to give people a glimpse to what I’ve been going through. When Logic gave me the idea it made a lot of sense, especially with the whole message of the album ending up back where you started. The end being the beginning, you know what I mean? Kind of like the resurfacing of the story. After ‘John Bellion’s One Way to San Diego (Outro)’ it was like okay, I do my spoken word speech and I’m like, “Success is inevitable, it was written for you to grow…no matter how far you’ve travelled…never forget where you’ve came from, always remember where you started” and at the end, it’s like this is where you started. This is where ‘May 10th, 2012’ began. This is where it all happened. This is where the whole story begins. The initial spark for that idea was Logic. He also gave me a couple of nuances throughout the skits for ‘No Love In The City’. In terms of like, “you should raise the barking dogs here” or something like that. Other than that no we didn’t bounce a lot ideas off of each other. We were very much to ourselves.
“Sometimes records will go over your head and when you get to the end you’re like okay I need to really listen”
FWI: Having ‘May 10th, 2012’ close things out and the way that it loops made me listen to the entire project over again immediately.
QuESt: Yeah, thank you, it means a lot. I think Logic was genius in that aspect because it ended up giving listeners something that they needed to pay attention to. Sometimes records will go over your head and when you get to the end you’re like okay I need to really listen. With Childish Gambino’s Camp, at the end, he has this whole spoken word story about him and this girl that he went to camp with, and I was like, “what is this? What’s going on?” And I really went back and I dove into the project content wise. Logic definitely gave me an alley-oop with that one. As far as the rest of the project goes he was working on his album while I was working on mine. So we were kind of really zoned in on what we were doing.
FWI: How much has your career changed since the release of Searching Sylvan?
QuESt: I think it’s given more of an audience for people to dive into me as an artist. I think that’s the biggest change. I’ve really been able to have an audience that I can cater to and that’s what I really wanted with Searching. The goals and aspirations that I have for my next project I didn’t have for Searching Sylvan. Searching Sylvan was about, let’s get this out the right way, let’s give people a story and something to hold onto and something they can gain from it and make them lifelong fans and lifelong supporters. And we’ve ultimately done that. It’s given me a great fan base to work with now.
Ultimately the fans and the supporters are the ones that are going to keep you moving. They’re the ones that are going to buy your albums. They’re the ones that are going to be here when all the listeners fade away. There’s a difference between fans and listeners. Fans will go out and support you. They’re part of you, they care about you and they care about your success. Listeners just care about your next record. I’m a listener of Taylor Swift. I like Taylor Swift’s records but I haven’t gone out and bought her records or anything. But I am an avid fan of Jay-Z. I’ll buy his records, I’m going to his shows, I’m going to do this because I really really care about Jay-Z.
“Everything that comes with an album…whether it be lyrics, production or originality…None of that mattered as much as telling my story”
FWI: There has been a lot of comparisons to Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, m.A.A.d City. How do you feel about this?
QuESt: It’s understandable. I’m not really mad at it. I knew from the concept of the album, how it was constructed from the skits and everything. I knew I was going to get Kendrick Lamar Good Kid, m.A.A.d City. Good Kid, m.A.A.d City did have an integral part in really wanting to tell my story. I think Kendrick is an amazing artist, I’m not going to deny that and there is influence on the album. I feel like it’s pretty obvious. But for me nothing mattered more than telling my story. Everything that comes with an album, that people judge, whether it be lyrics, production or originality or any of this. None of that mattered as much as telling my story. I do feel like there is Good Kid, m.A.A.d City similarities and the fact that people are comparing it to Good Kid, m.A.A.d City in any type of right is amazing. That being one of the most important albums in the last two years. The fact that it is getting any type of comparisons is flattering beyond belief. I knew it was going to happen and I’m not mad at it whatsoever.
FWI: I did get some similarities to Kendrick but it also reminded me of Prince Paul’s A Prince Among Thieves. Are you a fan of the album and did it influence your project?
QuESt: What’s funny is Prince Paul’s album didn’t have an influence on my project. What did end up having an influence on my project was a lot of Masta Ace’s earlier work, just with skits and how a lot of his earlier albums went. It wasn’t like integral, like 30-40%, it was kind of like on the same level of Kendrick Lamar’s, like 5-10%. From a skit factor it was like I want to implement skits and really carry the story on. Also Spike Lee and Do The Right Thing and his older films. They really influenced the soundscapes in my album cause it’s very jazzy and very classic jazzish. I really wanted to accompany the old films that I was watching like Do The Right Thing and all these old Spike Lee joints that have this classic storybook feel. Also Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool, Childish Gambino’s Camp, a lot of Jay’s Reasonable Doubt as well and Coldplay’s X&Y. I was listening to Coldplay non-stop throughout the duration of this album. Those are the real influences.
FWI: The project is very conceptual. What was the process like in putting together Searching Sylvan? Did you have a map of what you wanted each song to be about or did you just begin recording tracks and piece it together?
QuESt: What’s funny is that I didn’t really think it was going to be a concept album. At first, the album was going to be called Vigilante and I had a completely different concept and a completely different sound for it. But what I was trying to do wasn’t matching up with the concept that I had. I wanted to tell my story and the concept for Vigilante was a lot darker and a lot more cinematic and a lot more electro filled. What I wanted to do and was feeling was in a different area. I was making records here and there and I created ‘Dying Words’ and ‘Erase Me’ that really sparked off the creative energy and it was like, “okay, this is something dope.” Then I thought of the new title which is Searching Sylvan and then as I went along and progressed and I was making more records. ‘The Ride’ is what actually made it a concept album. I was creating it but it was one of those records that I was kind of like “yeah, I’m probably not going to put it on the album” but then I thought about “what if I implement the voicemails that I have from my girlfriend” and really make it something and really give it character. Those voicemails and her at the end…it kind of ties the record together. And that’s when it was like, this is intimate, this is a lot more personal and lot more revealing and it gives an important dynamic character.
FWI: Is that actually your girlfriend on the record?
QuESt: It’s actually Melat. But I had her mimic actual voicemails that I had. My girl didn’t want me to use the voicemails that I had. Those are real situations on a lot of occasions. I would be thinking about so many different things and then I would just bullshit around and I would drive around the city and show up to her crib and we would try to have a good time, but I would fuck up everything because I would be thinking too much. That record just gave me something that I was like, “okay, I know what I want to do with this album.” That’s when I started bleeding each record into different ones and really creating the story and telling things from one standpoint to another standpoint.
FWI: You were recently at Atlantic Records. Can you give us any details as to what came out of the visit?
QuESt: I was in New York for press week for Searching Sylvan. It was pretty cool man, I met with a few people that I already knew out there. It was nothing too serious, just casual conversations. That’s really how these situations are nowadays, kind of entertaining things and seeing where they come from. If the right situation comes about, I guess it will turn into whatever it turns into, but as of right now I’m very aware of where I’m at. I would definitely like a lot more leverage under my name before I consider anything.
FWI: You’re planning to drop one more free project before releasing your debut album. Can you provide us with any details on the upcoming project?
QuESt: I already have the title and the direction where I want it to go at. I think the overall sound I’m not completely sure of what it’s going to be because I’ve learned to never let your sound dictate where your album goes, as much as you should let your voice and what you’re trying to say dictate where your album goes. This next album is going to be kind of an elevation. It’s going to be about having one foot in and one foot out. Searching Sylvan was very much about my life and my struggles and the things that I was going through; struggling on a very human level. Since then things have kind of progressed and situations have come about that have me in a position where I’m one foot into a whole ‘nother life and whole ‘nother world and one foot out to a lot of the same things that I’m still trying to do and a lot of the things that I’ve still been doing. It’s going to be very much a calm duality. It’s just going to be two records, two sides to this perspective that I have. It’s going to be a lot more refined and a lot more definitive as well. I feel like Searching Sylvan was my story. I don’t want my debut album to be a coming of age “like we did it, we’re here now.” I feel like a lot of people kind of fall into that trap and also I don’t want it to be, “this is my first album, so this is my story”. I feel like it’s a bit cliché, as well. I just wanted to get my story out already. So this next project is going to be a lot more definitive. It’s like what separated Drake when he put out Comeback Season and then when he put out So Far Gone. Comeback Season was just him grinding and really really trying to put something together and him telling you what’s going on and So Far Gone was him arriving. He arrived in his sound, he arrived in his maturity, he arrived in who he was and that’s kind of where I’m going to be taking things with this next project.
FWI: Can you give us the title of the upcoming project?
QuESt: I can’t say the title. I’ve been figuring out if I want to announce it soon or announce it later. A part of me wants to announce it soon, but as of right now I can’t release anything.
FWI: Do you have an approximate release date?
QuESt: In a perfect world it would be late Summer/early Fall. Which would be an exact year after Searching Sylvan. I just have to encompass a lot more energy around this next project. I don’t want to just drop another project cause I’m dropping another project. I want there to be more energy, I want there to be more momentum, I want there to be newer fans. I want there to be more of a different light and a different situation around me before I go into dropping this next project cause that’s what I had with Searching Sylvan. It was a completely different light, completely different platform, completely different fan base so that I can cater a project to them, too. I just want that same energy with that next project. In a perfect world it would be late Summer/early Fall, in a perfect world.
FWI: On Twitter you mentioned that you are planning to drop something special for you fans when you hit 30k. You’re almost there. Can you give us any details about that?
QuESt: I think I’m about a thousand away, which is really surreal in hindsight when I think about it. I’m thinking about possibly a record. Also, I’m thinking about the sale of the physical copies of Searching Sylvan. I might make it into an event. I’m all about whatever I put out or whatever I try to make the most of it. It’s something to celebrate. I know social media doesn’t really mean much, but when I started this year I had like less than 10 thousand followers and now I’m at like 30k. It’s something to kind of reflect on and say, “wow we did this” you know?
FWI: Do you have any plans for an upcoming tour?
QuESt: Right now we’re setting up a bunch of spot shows. We’re also setting up a placement in SXSW. As far as touring goes, I’m looking into possibilities of opening for another larger artist. I know Logic is going to go on his Worldwide Tour and I’m not sure who he is going to be going on it with. But I’m going to be in a different situation and won’t be able to really go with him. We’re looking for opening spots to really begin touring on a higher level. Because one of the main things I want to do with this project is tap into a whole ‘nother fan base. A whole ‘nother audience and introduce a whole ‘nother group of people to what I’m doing. So in the meantime we’re just going to be setting up shows. We have a couple shows lined up in Miami. A couple shows lined up on the West Coast, a couple shows lined up in the Midwest as well. A couple that we’re trying to consolidate and figure out on the East Coast. We’re going to try to hit the game strong. It’s fourth quarter right now so things are kind of dying down. But first quarter next year we’re going full fledge.
FWI: Any last words for your fans?
QuESt: I just wanted to say thank you guys for supporting Searching Sylvan so much. Thank you for supporting me so much and thank you for being unreasonably patient with me throughout all of my journeys and everything that I have been through. I genuinely appreciate every single one of you guys.
Follow QuESt
twitter.com/YesIamQuESt
facebook.com/YesIamQuESt
soundcloud.com/yesiamquest
Follow FUXWITHIT
facebook.com/Fuxwithitblog
twitter.com/fuxwithitblog
soundcloud.com/fuxwithit-1
