His name is DaeQuan Finley, a 24 year old hip-hop recording artist who goes by the stage name of “DQ”. DQ is from the Bay Area, originally Oakland California where he was born and raised. As DQ got older his family moved to Livermore. Music has always been a huge part of DQ’s life. His early influences date back to his younger days when his parents would play musical talents such as, Common, Busta Rhymes, Hieroglyphics, Too Short, Run DMC, DJ Quik, A Tribe Called Quest, MC Hammer, and many other acts helped shape his first outlook towards music.
In his teenage years, DQ’s love for music had increased greatly during the time of the Bay Area's Hyphy Movement. That high energy / free-spirited movement was a definite staple in his life and career! As he express, “The Hyphy movement changed the whole lifestyle of the Bay Area, all from music. From Mistah Fab, E-40, and Mac Dre, all the way to Nef The Pharaoh Iamsu and Kamiyah. If you go anywhere in the Bay and slap their music the whole scene can easily turn into a party in a matter of minutes, it’s just a lot of fun and energy here!”
Later on in high school is where DQ first began recording music with other friends. The first song ever recorded by DQ was a comical song called the “Good Guys”, where he and other friends joked about being straight edged kids with manners who did all the right things. The song was such a funny track and hit amongst the groups peers and classmates. After that DQ and his friends formed a hip hop/rap group named “MBL” in 2011. "Music Beyond Lyrics" which consisted of the artistic styles of Haze, Reed Williams, DQ and C-Rad with the powers to produce bangers led by Joey Andrews and Benny P (AKA PersonaFi). The MBL crew created various other songs since that one song. In 2012, "MBL" went on to performing their music in many different cities across Northern California. This is the moment DQ found the passion for performing live!
In an interview with DQ, he said “Once I put that mic in my hand, it’s like I’m in another dimension. I’m not DaeQuan anymore, DQ takes over the second my foot plants onto the stage”, followed with, “That’s my happy place...My Sanctuary!” After many shows / events, DQ and MBL got their first big break when they appeared at the Bay Area’s first annual Califesto music festival in 2014. The crew then used that momentum to propel their careers with more shows and opportunities throughout the year.
In 2015 the crew faced more and more demands from work, college and personal relationships, which made brainstorming, musical ideas a consistent struggle. Shortly after, this trend led to the fall of MBL as a crew and the band mates went off to pursue individual careers. “Although the crew isn’t together, we are all still childhood friends and that will never change” DQ explains. He then goes on, “Music Beyond Lyrics is more than just making songs to me. It goes beyond the lyrics. It’s the friendship the interaction, networking, meeting new faces and sharing ideas between other like minded intellectuals.” As a solo artist DQ’s musical style goes back to his upbringing in the Bay Area, his Hyphy, high spirited energy that mixed and mashed with the word play, bars and lyricism of Old School Hip Hop. Which gives a unique sound, DQ named as the “Hyphy Boom Bap.”
Lately in 2018, DQ has been working on more solo projects and performances. The 24 year old Oakland native has been leaving his mark on many venues and studios throughout the Bay Area and Sacramento areas. DQ finished by saying, “My life is all about progression. From my circumstances, it will forever be that way. I'm not in competition with anyone but myself, there will always be room for improvements and that’s what I’ll always begin to seek out. I believe slow progression is still better than regression and that’s why my motto is 'Keep Grindin' no matter what it is you are doing. If you give consistent effort and energy to it, you will eventually watch it all grow and the pieces will all fall into place. I feel a lot of people reach an obstacle, hit that wall and then turn back and run away from it. I try to empower people to not fear the wall and keep climbing until you make it over." As far as his music career goes, he plans to do bigger and better shows, make more captivating music videos and have many more heartfelt interactions with fans of music as his career progresses.