QBoy

QBoy (b. Marcos Brito on 10 October 1978 in Basildon, Essex) is a UK-based rapper, DJ, writer and presenter. One of only a few openly gay rappers in hip-hop, he is part of the new sub-genre colloquially known as "homo hop".

History

Brito was born to an English mother and Gomeran (Spanish) father. He studied at De Montfort University in Leicester from 1997 to 2000, and received his Contemporary Dance, Acting and Performing Arts degree.

From 2001 to 2004, Brito was a journalist and editor of the website [http://www.gayhiphop.com gayhiphop.com.] He has written for "Gay Times", "attitude", "The Pink Paper" and "Exprezo", and has interviewed artists Princess Superstar, Beverley Knight, Mark Ronson, Nicole Wray and Five Star.

Brito was originally in a group with DJ Mistermaker and rapper Ill Form, recording under the name of Q-Form. Their first recordings, "Dirty Dirty" and "3 Different Stories", were featured on homo-hop CD collections "Phat Family volume 1" and "Phat Family volume 2", respectively. He is also part of the gay hip-hop DJ crew Pac-Man, which also features DJs NineBob, Gideon, Mistermaker, and fashion artist Noki.

Q-Form changed its name to Q-Fam (for "Queer Family") in 2003 and its status from a group to a collective, including Pac-Man members NineBob, Gideon and Noki and lesbian rapper Mz Fontaine, with whom they recorded the track "New Era." Later members of Q-Fam included singer-songerwriter/producer Wayne Latham, rapper Icykal, and vocalists Grace Orlando and Katanya.

In April 2003, UK gay magazine "The Pink Paper" featured the Q-Fam Collective with QBoy and Mistermaker on the front cover. [http://www.qboy.co.uk/press/press_scan_007.jpg] Other front covers where QBoy has been featured include "The Pink Paper" (October 2006), "Gay & Night" (August 2006), "AXM" (January 2006), "One Magazine" (August 2005), "gaynews.nl 'G" (August 2004) and "The Metro" (July 2004), for which he took part in the 60 Second Interview.

Publicity

QBoy has been featured in articles worldwide, including "The Guardian", [ [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/fridayreview/story/0,12102,1192359,00.html The gay rapper | | Guardian Unlimited Arts ] ] "TimeOut London", [ [http://www.timeout.com/london/gay/features/2146.html#articleAfterMpu Q Boy: interview - Features - Gay - Time Out London ] ] "i-D Magazine", "The Metro", "Mixmag", "Vice", "Instinct", "XY", "PlanetOut.com," [ [http://www.planetout.com/entertainment/music/buzzworthy/article.html?sernum=918 PlanetOut Music - Buzzworthy ] ] "Akut", "Shangay", "Zero", "Attitude", "AXM", "Boyz", "Gay Times", "The Pink Paper", "QX", and on BBC Radio One, [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/onemusic/documentaries/homohop539p01.shtml BBC - OneMusic Documentaries - Loud and Proud: The Rise Of Homo Hop ] ] "1Xtra" and "Five Live".

He has appeared on a number of TV shows, including "Boy George's Queerest TV Moments", [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465410/ "Favouritism" Boy George's Queerest TV Moments (2005) ] ] "CD:UK", "BBC Three News", "Channel 4 News", "Pink TV", "Logo", "Flava", "The Salon", and the Channel 4 documentary "Coming Out To Class", where he was the presenter.

Works

QBoy's track "A Deal With God" speaks of his experiences with homophobic bullying when at school and propelled him into a more political stratosphere, performing for the Home Office, UK Government in 2006, and making him a patron of the charity Beatbullying. He has also performed on the mainstages at EuroPride 2006 London, Manchester Pride [http://www.manchesterpride.com/gallery.asp?id=33&gid=3&page=16] (UK), Resfest in Zurich, Le Queens Club in Paris, [http://www.queerzagreb.org Queer Zagreb] in Croatia, Tallinn in Estonia, Bruges, EuroPride 2005 Oslo in Norway. and the [http://www.peaceouteast.com/ Peace Out East] 2004 festival in New York City.

In August 2005, QBoy organised [http://www.peaceoutuk.com/ PeaceOUT UK,] the first gay hip-hop festival in Europe. He also co-organised the following year's event in 2006.

He is featured in the homo-hop documentary "Pick Up the Mic" and toured with the film in July 2006, performing at film festivals in Los Angeles (Outfest), Chicago (The Gay Games) and Philadelphia.

QBoy's CD releases include the E.P. "Even The Women Like Him" (2004), "Remixes Don't Count - The Mixtape" (2006) and album, "Moxie" (2007). His tracks "Bent Spittin" and "Quarter Life Crisis" feature on the soundtrack to the film [http://www.opencammovie.com/music.html OpenCam.]

QBoy shot his first music video, "Quarter Life Crisis", in September 2004 in London. The video also features the track "Bent Spittin" and is directed by Khalid Laith. He shot his second music video, "Q.B.O.Y. (Is Just So Fly)" in July 2006 in New York. This video was directed by Jarrah Gurrie and fashion photographer Nicolas Wagner.

QBoy was nominated for Performing Artist Of The Year at the 2005 GALAs, alongside Will Young and Stephen Gately.

References

External links

* [http://www.qboy.co.uk QBoy official website]