{"id":1097,"date":"2016-11-15T19:38:12","date_gmt":"2016-11-15T19:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/?p=1097"},"modified":"2016-11-15T19:38:12","modified_gmt":"2016-11-15T19:38:12","slug":"king-of-queens-qboy-reclaims-his-throne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/?p=1097","title":{"rendered":"King of Queens QBoy Reclaims His Throne"},"content":{"rendered":"

King of Queens
\nQBoy Reclaims His Throne<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Jamie Booth<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

QBoy was one of the OG queer rappers who helped to lead, create and shape the sub-genre of hip hop known as homo hop in it\u2019s infancy.<\/p>\n

When he first premiered in the late nineties, everyone reacted to QBoy as an oxymoron. International news outlets from The Guardian, to VICE, Dazed & Confused and i:D all wondered the same thing: How can there be a gay rapper? QBoy showed them how with two hit videos: \u201cQ.B.O.Y. (Is Just So Fly)\u201d and the top ten MTV smash, \u201cComing Out 2 Play\u201d.<\/p>\n

But then he disappeared\u2026 until now.<\/p>\n

We spoke with QBoy from his London home.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What do you think of the term homo hop?<\/strong><\/p>\n

QBoy: The term really started in the nineties, against the backdrop of homophobic gangster rap. At the time, we needed to show that hip-hop had a queer face too. That there were actually some queers who loved and were creating hip-hop. There was a time when gays were very anti-hip hop and hip-hop was anti-gay and homo hop bridged that.<\/p>\n

Does the queer hip hop community support one another?<\/strong><\/p>\n

QBoy: The early generation did. Those early days were exciting. We were all together doing something new and trail blazing and we were doing it because we loved it. We never really thought it would take off. Gay people didn\u2019t understand why we loved hip-hop and hip-hop hated us. So we were unified.<\/p>\n

Is it the same today?<\/strong><\/p>\n

QBoy: Queer artists coming out today have so much more competition. I\u2019m not sure they share that same camaraderie that we experienced when I first started.<\/p>\n

Are you friendly with the gay rapper, Cazwell?<\/p>\n

QBoy: I\u2019ve known Cazwell for fifteen years. Before Cazwell was a solo artist, he was in a dope band called Morplay with another rapper, Crasta Yo. I remember reviewing their single ‘Watch My Mouth’ for gayhiphop.com and being truly inspired. Cazwell has my respect for what he has achieved.<\/p>\n

What advice would you give him?<\/strong><\/p>\n

QBoy: I wouldn’t dream of giving Cazwell advice. We met up in LA recently and he was looking to make some new music so I suggested a few ideas but advice – what do I know? I am just trying my best like everyone else. He knows what he is doing. He\u2019s a smart, hard working cookie.<\/p>\n

What do queer rappers need to do to get on mainstream radio?<\/strong><\/p>\n

QBoy: Mainstream means you are creating a product that everyone wants to buy, and usually that makes it quite beige. Most queer artists are honest in their music and by doing so, they\u2019re making art that is often striking and unique and not beige, boring or conformist at all.<\/p>\n

Which of your songs on QING has the most mainstream potential?<\/strong><\/p>\n

QBoy: (Laughing) You\u2019re very obsessed with mainstream! In today\u2019s Internet world, we no longer need to be mainstream to succeed or reach our audience. But if you want to know the songs that are least gay in the lyric content and subject matter, they would be \u201cMusic Makes Us Dance\u201d and \u201cSet It Up\u201d. \u201cSet it Up\u201d is about relationships I have had with men but lyrically it’s not sexuality specific.<\/p>\n

Is there one track that\u2019s just for the boys? <\/strong><\/p>\n

QBoy: Both \u201cShow Me Your Deck\u201d and \u201cDragOn\u201d has more queer themed content. \u201cDragOn\u201d is a weed smoker\u2019s anthem where I literally talk about stoned sex with hot boys. One of favorite things \u2013 not discounting donuts. \u201cShow Me Your Deck\u201d is very much focused on my own experiences on gay hook-up apps.<\/p>\n

Which track on the EP tells us the most about QBoy? <\/strong><\/p>\n

QBoy: Everything I do must come from a seed of truth or I just cannot connect with it, so really, all of the songs are true portrayals of my personality. After watching all five videos you might think that I am a Game of Thrones and tracksuit loving, cock-obsessed, socially concerned, cheeky, humorous, spiritual stoner who has experienced some pretty shitty break-ups. And I\u2019d say that is not far off the mark.<\/p>\n

For more information on QBoy and his new EP, QING, visit QBOYMUSIC.COM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

King of Queens QBoy Reclaims His Throne By Jamie Booth   QBoy was one of the OG queer rappers who helped to lead, create and shape the sub-genre of hip hop known as homo hop in it\u2019s infancy. When he first premiered in the late nineties, everyone reacted to QBoy as an oxymoron. International news outlets from The Guardian, to VICE, Dazed & Confused and i:D all wondered the same thing: How can there be a gay rapper? QBoy showed them how with two hit videos: \u201cQ.B.O.Y. (Is Just So Fly)\u201d and the top ten MTV smash, \u201cComing Out 2 Play\u201d. But then he disappeared\u2026 until now. We spoke with QBoy from his London home.   What do you think of the term homo hop? QBoy: The term really started in the nineties, against the backdrop of homophobic gangster rap. At the time, we needed to show that hip-hop had a queer face too. That there were actually some queers who loved and were creating hip-hop. There was a time when gays were very anti-hip hop and hip-hop was anti-gay and homo hop bridged that. Does the queer hip hop community support one another? QBoy: The early generation did. Those […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1098,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[604],"tags":[1248,1253,1250,1245,1247,1254,1244,8,1246,1243,1249,1251,1252,728],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1097"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1099,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1097\/revisions\/1099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}