QQ celebrates 20 years in music

Dancehall artiste QQ has stood the test of time as he is celebrating 20 years in music.

The former child star who gained fame with his 2005 single Poverty at age 10, has been reflecting on his journey which saw him return to Jamaica from the United Kingdom (UK) to pursue music; he has not looked back since.

"I was living in the UK and I was the only boy on the choir in the school I was attending, and we did a performance for the Queen of England at the time and my school showered me with praises. I went to my dad and I told him I wanted to do music, and he asked what kind of music. I was a proud Jamaican boy living in London, so I told him that I wanted to do Jamaican music, and he said it's best to do Jamaican music from Jamaica to get the roots; so we came back to Jamaica," he said.

QQ said one of the challenges he faced at the start of his career was the absence of other children doing mainstream dancehall music.

"Jamaica was not used to children being in the space, even though when I became the youngest person to have a hit song, I was taking the record from Dennis Brown. There was also Nadine Sutherland, who was a young individual in the music in her younger days. I guess the country never got used to it, so there was pushback from persons who thought I was being exploited through work, and there were persons who thought I was being exposed to indecency. It was weird, because I was seeing [child rappers] Romeo and Lil Bow Wow and all these people in the US. So I couldn't understand why they couldn't see it that way," he said.

When questioned on what is the key to longevity in music, QQ said "there is no specific thing that I think leads to that".

"But I wanna assume that it starts with the music and ends with the music. You do music, you put out music, you ensure that your music is to a certain level and standard. Every now and then you will find that you put out a song that persons might have a difference of opinion on, which is fine; and it may bring controversy, which is fine because controversy as an artiste helps to propel you and keep you in the media's eye. People will only remember you by the music, so keep putting out music," he advised.