Preserving History with Hip Hop
Tired of the negativity echoing around you? Look no further than Hilton Head’s own positive preaching hip-hop artist, Quintin Smalls, otherwise known as “Q,” to brighten your mood. With a flair for mixing storytelling, Gullah history and a love for island living, he’s sure to get you smiling and grooving to his family-friendly rap music.
While his mother’s lineage hails from Hilton Head, Smalls’ father is from Beaufort. And yes, the renowned Robert Smalls, known for freeing himself and his crew during the American Civil War, then rising to prominence in both politics and business, is a distant relative.
“He’s like my great-great uncle,” boasts the 30-year-old with an endless smile.
Smalls’ distant relative also provided inspiration and direction.
“I wanted to dig more into his history and what he did for this culture,” says Smalls. “So, about four years ago, I was on Wikipedia just reading and reading and decided I’d make a song about it.”
“Children’s Story” was the result, an up-tempo retelling of Robert Smalls’ life set to a track by Slick Rick that has become a standard at local festivals and community events. In February, Smalls shared his song with more than 400 attendees at the Freedom Day Celebration held at Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park that also featured Michael Boulware Moore, great-great grandson of Robert Smalls, and the Claflin University Concert Choir.
Smalls admits that finding pride and purpose in singing about his roots took some time. Dance was his first love.
“My mother and grandmother always had speakers blasting on the weekend, playing their songs – oldies like Sam Cooke, James Brown, Houdini – so I was always into the rhythms and dancing,” he recalls.
Winning one talent show after another as a child, Smalls was encouraged by organizers to pursue something other than dance, so more contestants had a chance to win.
His seventh-grade language arts teacher, Mrs. Lauderdale, came to the rescue.
“We had to do a poetry binder and turn it in at the end of the year,” says Smalls. “I realized poetry and rap music are the same thing. Once I understood that, I kept writing more and more.”
Though rapping was a fun way to pass time in the cafeteria with friends, Smalls, like many of his fellow Hilton Head High classmates, headed to college after graduating in 2011, hoping to find a career path.
Impending fatherhood brought him back home a year later. Saddled with a full-time job to support his family, he also pursued music.
In 2017, he teamed up with former classmate Anthony Johnson to create the duo Spiritual Gangsters, his first leap into performing. Their music centered around God and Gullah culture, though Smalls admits it wasn’t enthusiastically received.
“There was a lot of shame at the time about being Gullah,” he explains.
Undeterred, thanks to what Smalls calls his “short-guy syndrome,” he never gave up and “jumped into the Gullah bag as much as possible,” re-branding himself as a positive artist who wanted to share and preserve his culture.
Branching out on his own, he used the foundations of his childhood as inspiration. Everything from the Gullah language to food staples like stewed chicken and red rice, as well as memories like picking collard greens with his grandmother or grabbing oysters from the marsh became fodder for his musical stories.
Themes of love, respect and community were also woven into his lyrics, resulting in “Gullah Life” — Smalls’ first recorded album in 2019 that features 12 songs including
“Paradise,” a collaboration with former classmate and local performer Sara Burns.
“It’s one of my favorites,” says Smalls. “The message is so uplifting.”
Two more albums followed, “Coast Boy King” and “Q Da 1” as well as music videos posted to YouTube, but COVID put a damper on live performances.
Last year Smalls was so eager to share his music that he went to each of the Hilton Head schools, asking if he could speak and perform for the students.
“I got to the high school dressed in this all-gold suit with a crown, looking like MC Hammer in dreads,” laughs Smalls, “and they said, ‘I have someone you can speak to.’”
Added last-minute to the school’s Black History program, Smalls told his story, shared some videos and performed several songs. Relieved to hear the rush of applause afterwards, he was also surprised to learn that some students had never heard of the Gullah Geechee.
“I figured I had a lot more people to educate,” reasons Smalls, who now is busier than ever.
Last year Smalls also donned his gold suit (and matching gold shoes) to bring his repertoire of rap music and personal stories to Barb Ready’s second-grade classroom at Cross Schools in Bluffton.
“He was awesome, and they were completely enamored,” she said. “When you can get 16 eight-year-olds to focus on you, you’re doing something right and he had them 100%. They were just waiting for the next thing he would say.”
Last October when the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor hosted its Grand Opening Celebration, Smalls was a featured entertainer. According to Executive Director, Victoria Smalls, “He blew everyone away.”
Calling him “brilliant” and “amazingly talented,” she’s grateful for his ability to bring so many untold stories to life, adding, “I’m so proud of him as a young Gullah rapper and as someone who is showing that the Gullah Culture is ever evolving.”
Smalls also enjoys performing at various clubs around town. On Christmas Eve he entertained guests at Red Stripes, a Caribbean restaurant on island, and he’s had several album-release parties at the Rooftop Bar at Poseidon.
“It’s a prime location, and we can do our hip-hop thing because it’s a club,” exclaims Smalls, who admits during his last show he “jumped up and down for hours.”
Recently noted pianist, composer and arranger, Martin Lesch, asked him to perform a few songs with him at The Jazz Corner, an event Smalls describes as “a dream come true.”
Ever the optimist, Smalls fantasizes about someday winning a Grammy or appearing on the BET Awards, but adds, “If I’m able to keep preserving anyone’s story who came on our land and made a difference — even my mother’s or grandmother’s story — that’s what it’s all about.”
