(Featured L-R: Mac Miller, Karla “HustleGRL” Moy, Quentin Cuff)
Words by Priya Pansuria
At only 21 years old, Quentin “Q” Cuff who started off as a free-lance writer for hip-hop and wrote for Jenesis magazine and the Pittsburgh Post, has accomplished a lot for someone his age. As a member of the Most Dope crew, Cuff’s been with Mac Miller since the beginning. He’s come a long way at a young age and still has a long way to go.
How did you meet Mac Miller?
He was known in the local Pittsburgh area for freestyling in public. I always saw him. He’d go on Facebook forums and battle people. I heard about him battling kids after school, and freestyling at parties. One time he was freestyling and spilled beer on himself. I had extra shirt in my car and I gave it to him. After that, he opened up for Soulja Boy and we met up again. And then we would meet up everyday. He taught me how to smoke weed. I was a straight-edge kid until I met him, he loosened me up, no homo. But the music is what brought us together as friends.
You were there when Mac got his deal at Rostrum Records. How was that set up?
The President of Rostrum Records Benjy Grinberg and Vice President Arthur Pitt had their eyes on us. They were behind the scenes giving us advice on what to do around the time we started hanging out with [NY Jets] Darrelle Revis. We were going to do business with him to help get his music out. For a while we thought we were going to do work with Revis. We ended up going with Rostrum because of the strong ties to our hometown. Mac and Benjy really click as an artist and manager. They work well as a team.
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How have you seen Mac grow as an artist since you’ve known him?
Tremendously. He works hard everyday in the studio. Some kids go to college, and some kids are Mac Miller. Mac always took music so seriously to the point where it’s an around-clock thing for him. He’s a musical 7-11. His goal is to make Mac Miller a brand because he has so much faith in his music. He’s shooting to be an icon. What Mac is doing in the industry is unprecedented and I feel that he’s an underrated artist in the music industry as a whole. He continues to work on his craft.
Mac Miller’s Blue Slide Park was the first debut indie hip-hop album to go number one in 16 years. What do you think helped make that possible?
That was all Mac’s idea. He came to Benjy and was like “I want to go number one independently.” Benjy said that’s a high stake. Mac knew what type of music he was making and what he needed to do to make his goal. Him and Benjy made a plan and went in. I threw in some ideas here and there, but it was really them. It was a huge deal for our whole team. Mac and Eric Dan from ID Labs went in and crafted that album all summer. Aside from what people say about the sales is honestly how good the music is. A lot of that music is near and dear to my heart. I was disappointed by a lot of the reviews by Pitchfork and Spin and Rolling Stone about songs from the album. Aside from the sales, I felt the music was well put together.
You were recently named as one of the executive producers on Mac’s acclaimed Macadelic mixtape. You tend to have a good ear as an A&R. What’s your role as one?
I A&R for Mac, not for Rostrum. I help him find beats, put his schedule together, make sure he’s on time for everything. I tour managed for him a couple of years, and now I am his road manager (Cuff is currently out on tour with Miller in Europe.) I try to be a second ear for Mac and find new people for Mac to work with. I enjoy linking Mac up with new artists. Right now Mac and I are working with Iman Omari and helping him put out his next project.
What does the Most Dope brand represent? What have you done to help push the brand and help turn it into more of a culture for Mac’s fans?
Most Dope is a collective, you have Mac Miller, me. There’s Sweet James, Jimmy, he’s an incredible visual artist. He does crazy art and just have a knack for doing a lot different things really well. In 2012 people are really going to see that side of Most Dope. TreeJay and Peanut have their clothing line THC. Those are my dudes. They are about to be the most popular stoners ever. Mark my words. (Laughs). This year you’re definitely going to see official Most Dope gear come out too. It’s kind of hard because everyone is doing street wear, but we’re in the lab working on it. Shout out all Most Dope, Dave, Clockwork, and even Will’s bitch ass (jokes).
Who are some of your influences?
I want to be successful enough to change things so that more young people are doing things in the industry. People like the Peas & Carrots International crew, Sascha Stone from Score More, Mike Waxx from illRoots, Yams with A$AP and Christian Clancy who is an unreal manager. They all inspire me. I am inspired by a lot of my peers, honestly.
Ricky Anderson who manages Hit-Boy. I met him at the Watch The Throne show. I look up to him. And there’s Don C with Kanye. He brought me and Mac backstage at the Watch The Throne show. Mick, Pharrell’s assistant. He was also an influence for me.
Scooter Braun is another inspiration. On the phone he was like I need to you tell everyone on your campus to get “I Love College.” Now that I see how popular Bieber and Roth are it’s inspiring. Brock from Diamond Supply. And Johnny Shipes––you might see some shit from me and him soon.
Obviously I’ve learned a lot from Benjy and Artie from Rostrum as well. Those are definitely the OG’s. Arthur Pitt is like my cool uncle I never had.
What do you ultimately want to do?
I’ve been offered a lot of side gigs. Obviously everyone knows my loyalty to Mac. As long as Mac wants me around I’m there for him and the history we made together with Most Dope means a lot to me. Most Dope movement is my number one priority. Mac’s career and making sure people see the genius and effort he puts into what he’s doing is near and dear to my heart.
I’m definitely looking forward to doing things in my upcoming year. Jimmy and I are going to release a magazine this year. We wanted something that could show off our style and show that off in a different way. It’ll help us creatively show people that we’re more than just Mac’s homies.
But there’s a time and a place. If I have extra time, I’ll do extra shit. I’m not going to do shit that shows I’m money-hungry or wack shit. I’m doing the magazine, and I’m going to write a book with Jimmy as well.
I want to do a bunch of dope things. I also feel like I have a unique eye for branding and visualizing complete packaging. I’m obsessed with album artwork. I want to get into collecting vinyl and helping design.
And eventually, I want to take my millions and own the Pittsburg Pirates. I want my own skybox and call it a hotbox and smoke weed in the hotbox while I watch the Pirates play. I want to be that rich off of all the ideas I have.
