One of my most rocked artists of the early 21st century was TQ. Between his flawless debut They Never Saw Me Coming and any of his underrated follow-ups, the former Ca$h Money singer who will forever claim Westside has dropped quite a few quality songs over the course of his career, whether you ever heard them or not. However, for whatever reason, his R&B thug gimmick didn’t manifest the way his talent deserved and his career basically flat-lined three years ago. One track from his 2004 album Listen that shined despite being slighted was “Right On,” which was an epic, string-led comeback attempt that tried to recapture the rep originated in the early stages of his career.

Some might call the song cheesy. I call it excellent.

Every two years or so, TQ reemerges from the shadows of late 90’s triviality to drop off a new single and give ‘er another go. Typically, the song is fairly cheesy, usually makes mention of 2Pac but it is always better than your average. “Electronic” is no different. Off the Compton son’s 2010 Koch debut, Kind Of Blue, this obviously digital dance joint is Read the rest of this entry »

If I were doing a rap album, and had unlimited pockets, not only would it probably be feta as f_ck but it would also guarantee Nate Dogg and TQ belting out a few hooks. As far as reaching out to a few rappers for assistance, I might choose Too Short to round out my pimp game and feature Lil Wayne for promotional purposes only. And beats? Read the rest of this entry »

A lot of times in the rap game, it ain’t even about your skill level.

Not to knock nobody’s hustle or expertise, but if you can hook up a nice lil’ collab with some established players, you got a jumpstart from the get. If you’ve got stacks for weeks and/or more connects than the Golden Gate Bridge, you can basically hook up with just about any artist you want. It is a business, so I suppose it makes perfect sense. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the missing (and forgotten) links in the whole late Cash Money era is TQ. AHH apparently caught up with him while he was on his cig break @ Piggly Wiggly, asking him about Baby & Wayne’s man-love…

I guess some of them other ni**as recognized the look on my face and ran to the rescue. “T, don’t trip, that’s jailhouse love.” Jailhouse love? What the f**k? Them two ni**as and never been to jail! I’ve sent my fair share of Kites homie and I ain’t never heard of two ni**as kissing as being jailhouse love unless they was… ya dig? That sh*t was disturbing to me pimp. They say it’s a father-son thing. Ni**a I ain’t kissing my daddy in the mouth!

To each his own… I ain’t questioning a ni**a’s sexuality cuz I just don’t get down like that, and I know for a fact that both of them cats like women. But it f**ks me up when them ni**as do that sh*t in public…

The Verdict — I ain’t a female so I don’t have the sharpest gaydar. But I suspect he’s just separating himself from any possible sex tapes that he could be featured on.

C’mon, buddy wore an S-Curl.

Trials of TQ: The Secrets Behind Cash Money’s “Jailhouse Love” [AHH via RTNY]