$cheme, $tack, $urvive

Above is the cover to my upcoming album $cheme $tack $urvive also known as QING (pronounced: King). When I say the name to people, friends and fans included, they cringe or wonder why I chose the name QING and what do I mean by it. I accept this emotion and give myself a silent applause because evoking that emotion is what I feel like art and music should do. It should be created with feelings to evoke feelings, that's pure art. The concept of scheme, stack, survive is straightforward, being that if you follow those three steps - four, if you add "repeat" - you'll be successful. In certain cases I'm talking about work, scheme for the lowest price, stack during the flip and simply survive with the bread until you flip again. I say that with confidence but...I've also lived it up & fucked up money too. Is what it is. In other cases I'm talking about college, scheme to get through classes and papers that somehow got done, stack money still cause I had the hustle up there, and survive when shit get difficult perseverance is a bitch to learn but once you master that skill nothing can move you from what you set your mind to. There are similarities between the streets and the hallways, stark differences as well but there is much knowledge in both and if laid on a venn diagram a bunch of shit would be in the middle. Neither are easy. The concept of QING is where I feel as if from the outside looking in I seem arrogant and ungrateful for the talent I was given. To be as transparent and as to the point as possible the Q comes from my name Quise (pronounced: Keece) of course, but also to pay homage to the Wymon in my family, my Queens. My uncle told me as a youngbul, Protect the Queens, simple shit stuck in my head forever. He was talking about the women in our family but him referring to them all like that changed my perception to this day. Who protects the Queen? The idea of becoming a king or queen (for my ladies) to me means much more than being better than someone else, it's gaining a type of divine inner strength from my own downfalls, failures and shortcomings. Years ago I couldn't give up the obligation to protect those women as King and they could not be treated as anything other than royalty. With age comes wisdom, intelligence, and experience; if the young girls were not fit to been queen and the youngbuls weren't fit enough to protect where I'm from, life coming up would give you all the teaching necessary regardless. Shout out to my single mothers and big brothers that fight for they little sisters and cousins. Not to go too deep into that man but... The simple idea is just to become the most refined version of myself as a man through all of the mistakes and bullshit and grit; but how is that confined to only me? The trials we go through as individuals shape us, chisel us and the shit you go through isn't parallel to mine. What I'm trying to say is that we all can be Kings and Queens, we just need more honestly with ourselves. We're all fucked up in our own way, we all have been though our share of shit but what you become of it is what they write on the tombstone. The album is simply my personal journey through a couple years of wins and losses. Take a deep dive into the cover above crafted by Marvin @Ghxstgod Grant, Granite St. is my grandmas block where I spent most of my time. Real rap though, I love each and every one of you who reads these words, & I hope you're smoking something potent like your boy and stay tuned in for much more coming in the next few days and new year.