A-Q
| A-Q (Gilbert Bani) | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Gilbert Bani |
| Also known as | A-Q |
| Born |
August 1, 1986 Abia State, Nigeria |
| Occupation(s) | Rapper, songwriter, recording artists, dancer, actor,record producer, entrepreneur |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, piano |
| Years active | 2000-present |
| Labels | Hustle Inc. |
| Associated acts | M-Trill, YQ, Vector, Yemi Alade, Morell, Boogey, Maytronomy, Pryse, Base One |
| Website | Official website |
Gilbert Bani (born August 1, 1986) better known by his stage name A-Q, is a prolific Nigerian rapper, recording artist, dancer, songwriter, and performer. A-Q started his music career at the age of 12 listening to other artiste and miming their songs. He was then advised to start writing his own lyrics by friends while in Kings College Lagos.
Born into a family of six as the last child, A-Q real name Gilbert Bani was raised in Surulere where he has lived for most of his life. Growing up in this environment exposed him to different social classes rich, middle class and poor, which has influenced his ability to socialise within any class he finds himself.
A-Q attended Fountain nursery and primary school, Kings College Lagos, and had his tertiary education at the University of Lagos. Being the last child of his family he caught up to hip-hop at a young age largely influenced from watching his elder siblings react to different genres of music. He started collecting hip-hop tracks, learning the lyrics and miming them and was soon able to mime almost any track out at that time. It didn’t take long before he started writing his own lyrics on advice from friends and thus his sojourn into entertainment. ”.
A-Q started professional music quite early signing his 1st record deal in 2001 with BIG LEAF RECORDS where he was for two years before he started working on his own in 2003. His 1st single ‘(W)rap Nigeria’, produced by kraftmatics, debuted in 2004 followed by a music video which exposed the hip-hop artiste to the public for the first time. He subsequently released a full compilation album LISTEN AND OVERSTAND in 2005 followed by another single ‘Things That We Do’, which sold about 5000 copies and got him an international online distribution deal. The album LISTEN AND OVERSTAND can still be found in many online digital stores. In 2006 A-Q put out a mix tape titled MAGA MUST PAY vol 1. which sold about 3000 copies. Both works did not get much radio and television rotation because of the developing and lopsided nature of the industry at the time.
A-Q took a break from music to finish his education in University of Lagos but still managed to release a single and a video for a track titled MAKE MONEY in 2008 produced by Laylow and featuring Morachi and Xtrim off an online mixtape titled LOVE AND MONEY which was exclusive to Trusport an online social entertainment portal, hosting radio shows, music tracks and videos of largely African content (www.mytruspot.com)
...
Wikipedia