Music executive Chris Hicks knew he had something special when he stumbled on a demo recorded by a newcomer by the name of Q. Amey. Hicks immediately set up a dinner meeting with the promising untapped talent. Soon after, a meeting with Jomo Hankerson, President of Blackground Records (Aaliyah, Timbaland, Tank) ensued. Hankerson was very impressed, offering Q a record deal without hesitation. Now, Q makes his preeminent foray into the music industry with his debut, Anthem Music.
The budding artist explains, “I have anthems in a lot of different categories. I have love anthems, club anthems. Anthem Music is music that gets the crowd moving. It’s feel-good music.” Q has a more serendipitous philosophy when it comes to creating music. “People are always looking for a sound, but really you can’t look for a sound, it just has to come to you one day,” which is the essence of Anthem Music. He mixes “everything possible,” including hip-hop, country, rock and R&B.
Anthem Music leads with “Steal My Show,” an infectious single produced by Brian Michael Cox (Mariah Carey, Bow Wow) on which Q deals with the sensitive subject of infidelity. “Everything that I wrote on the song happened exactly like that. The whole song is about her cheating on me – how could somebody else steal my show?” The piano-laced melody is sure to evoke the emotion Q felt when he wrote it. He also teams with label mate Tank on two tracks - “Stay” and “I Will.” Working with the Grammy-nominated artist was an affirming experience for Q.
Melodically, the album has a conventional tone reflective of the 20-year-old’s own generation, but nods to traditional R&B as well. Q pays homage to Janet Jackson on the alluring “One Drink.” Borrowing from her 1987 hit “Let’s Wait a While,” the mid-tempo track hears Q campaigning for the affections of a cutie that catches his eye. Other producers include J.R. Rotem (50 Cent, Sean Kingston) and Corna Boyz (Ciara, Omarion).
Born in Bankhead and raised near Atlanta in College Park, Q (short for Quintin) got his first taste of music industry stardom before his tenth birthday. As a member of the group X’s 3 — which also consisted of his two brothers — he enjoyed regional success and was able to tour the Southeast thanks to their popular single “After the Rain.” He quickly realized the benefits of stardom – even if it was on a small scale. “I loved the attention. We did pretty well in the Southern States. It was exciting.”
The celebrity life was short-lived, as X’s 3 disbanded the following year. Constantly getting into fights and suffering heartbreak after heartbreak, it was then that Q began expressing himself through poetry. When his parents bought a piano, he started composing songs based on his poetry. What began as an outlet morphed into a talent that has helped him provide lyrics for artists such as Trey Songz, Cherish, and Usher.
While he penned the lion’s share of Anthem Music, Q knows singing and songwriting alone won’t get him where he wants to go, a place only a chosen few ever reach. He states, “Besides being able to sing [it’s] that it-factor [you have to have].” And with his debut album set to establish him as one of this generation’s most talented singer-songwriters, Q has big plans. “I want to be someone that inspires people to write and be creative. I produce and write. I’d like people to get more involved in expressing themselves. If this project is a success, then it will prove to me that when you really tell the truth and get involved with your own expression, it really helps because people will really feel what you’re saying.
