Today we’d like to introduce you to Qudduws aka QUE.D
Hi Qudduws, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Well to began with I come from a musical family my mother and father were both professional singers my father was also a bass guitar player and he also played the drums, my mother did a lot of session singing when artist couldn’t hit certain notes they would call her in because she had a amazing voice she was so good that Aretha Franklin ask her to sing background on tour but at the time she was to young and my grandmother would not allow her to go unfortunately. Also my my uncle Beverly Dewitt Yancey was a jazz singer/song writer and my late cousin James Yancey aka J Dilla who I grew up with was a producer/song writer as well. So the creation of music has always been around me and in me though I began as a dancer one of the best in Detroit my father was a great dancer as well by the way lol. I started out as dancer for T3 from Slum Village when he was a solo artist then later through the years when Slum Village formed my self and my dance partner backed them up for a while but after being in the studio with them night after night also contributing to songs from time to time I decided that I would start writing songs of my own growing up around all of this deciding to make music of my own came natural. So around 1997 me and my late cousin J Dilla put together a project that some would call a classic to this day called (Quite Delicious) first released on cassette tape then later part of it on 12′ record in 2001 . I went on to work with other producers from Detroit like Young RJ and Black Milk , Karriem Riggins and also Madlib on the Westcoast . Then eventually I moved to New York for a while and being there I no longer had the easy access to my producers anymore so at this point I was pushed into the position to try my hand at producing my own beats to write to it was something that I always wanted to do but at that point I had to. And I fell in love with it the process of making a track so much that I began making beats mainly and that brings me into where Im at today creating beats is a passion of mine I believe it always has been I just needed a way to get it out and growing up around Soul,House,Electronic,Techno music I now find all those sounds coming out in my production these days. Ive been making mainly House/Dance music and some Techno . I recently Re-Released the full project from 1997 on 12″ Record something my fans have been wanting me to do for some years so I finally have its a Limited Edition on my site WHOISQUED.COM I also have a project on all digital platforms called (Cinematic) that is all beats that I made so that is the groove Im in today producing and Dj ing at parties around the world its my passion and it always will be.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not always been a smooth road me and my friends started trying to break into the Music Industry from a very young age and being from Detroit made it extremely hard nobody thought great music was coming out of Detroit since the Motown days. But little did the know we had a Hip-Hop underground scene that a lot of popular artist came from that can be heard today including my crew the original Slum Village T3,Baatin,J Dilla,Waajeed, and my self QUE.D . We were always trying to get people to hear us and running into dead ends and scams until a friend of ours introduced us to the late great AMP Fiddler he saw a group of young kids that was hungry to make music and he started letting us come in and use his home studio and started teaching us the ropes of how to properly use the studio for years. We eventually grew to have our own studio space to make music day and night. Once Amp introduced us to Q Tip from a Tribe Called Quest is when things finally looked like we may have a chance to make our dreams come true though we still had a ton of bumps in the road before things got better but we did eventually reach our goal.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Well at this stage in my creative journey I am a producer of House,Dance,Soul,Electronic,Techno music and a writer and Dj I was first known as the Rap artist QUE.D but today I am much more than that. I am most proud of finding my own sound in production from all the musical influences from Jazz,Soul,Funk,House,Techno, Electronic, Hip-hop has all giving me a great melting pot of sounds to draw from. What sets me apart is having such a rich musical family gave me a chance to develop a great musical ear from always hearing real music in its origin state gave me the best foundation to build from its something that has always been in me I just had to find my own way of expressing it and I am also proud to say I am still growing and developing musically.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
The most important characteristic to have is learning how to keep your Ego out of the room always when it comes to creating music real music because that keeps the door open for real creativity to flow in that comes from a source that is much greater then us all.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://WhoisQued.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealqued/profilecard/?igsh=MTBjNmdsMDVxbTNvdQ==
- Twitter: https://x.com/TheRealQueD?s=03
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@QUE.D
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/qued786
Image Credits
Photos by DatBoySam &
Photos by Robert WAAJEED O’Bryant
