It was the skate videos Marques was watching in his hometown of PG County, Maryland that first got him into the underground scene and punk; not the typical musical upbringing you’d expect from his predominantly black neighbourhood. It would also be what got the teenager into making beats from his iPod on Beatmaker aged 15. He would make beats exclusively for the next 3 years.
Ambitious even then and looking for a plug, Marques showed up seven hours early to a Kanye West concert at the Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C, snuck backstage to try to personally deliver him beats, meeting Kacy Hill in the process. By this time Marques had bought his own equipment to continue to produce for rappers in Maryland: hanging with them for hours at sessions, he commonly found himself the big character in the group, so decided to start rapping himself. Lugging all the equipment back home with him after each session, he taught himself how to engineer, master and produce.
As he developed his craft as a beat maker and lyricist, he started following Maryland rapper and artist KAMAU, talking over Soundcloud and eventually going on to record songs together. They grew close and the rapper told him if he ever wanted to come and live in New York, he’d help him out.
Marques would take him up on his word after gaining a scholarship to college in Manhattan, and started studying by day and working with the artist by night. It wasn’t long before KAMAU invited him to join his DoloBhana collective – their base being a 4 bedroom residence in Brooklyn, with 10 artists of all mediums living and creating there – actors, painters, creatives – a crucible of emerging talent and a hub that continues to be a cradle of creativity for the young artist.
Cue to last year and Marques started to release music. UK star Raleigh Ritchie would immediately reach out and ask him to open up for him at his Bowery Ballroom NYC show in May. Marques kept up the hustle, managing to get in front of the likes of Theophilus London, St. Vincent and Andre 3000; he’d also use various means to find phone numbers for the likes of Virgil Abloh and TDE exec Danger King to proposition them with his music.
Now a bonafide New York mainstay, the 22 year-old marks the likes of Kid Cudi, St. Vincent, Outkast, Kanye West and The Beatles as serial influences - showing a supremely broad palette of musical taste that’s clearly manifested in the scope and sophistication of his music. Marques’ precocious talent is clear from the outset – his penchant for a golden sample way before his time (Jill Scott) balanced with an ability to craft an addictive hook marks the signature of a very special emerging artist.
Comparisons to the very best of the emerging hip hop talents seem merited even at this early stage, and with the promise of a debut body of work scheduled for release later this year, Marques may not have to use ways and means to collaborate with his idols for much longer.
