OD Quake ’s Instagram name reads “Hook Magician,” which speaks volumes to his talents. Priding himself in being a versatile recording artist, the Philadelphia native likes to all genres, switching it up from hip-hop to R&B to pop to reggae. He states, “Whatever you want to take it, it’s all over the place.”
Falling in love with music at age 14, it was in 2008 when he’d begin recording professionally. His specialty lies in his ability to create fire hooks and choruses, an area of expertise he calls his strong suit. Currently signed to Montana of 300’s FGE label, the 29-year-old has released three projects to date: Revived, Haymaker, and Bipolar.
Consistently feeding his growing fanbase, he most recently released the official music video for “Circle Closed,” detailing his come up and those who switched up around him.
AllHipHop caught up with OD Quake who had just woken up after going to sleep at 12:30pm. All day every day, you can find him locked in the lab working. Read below as we discuss his upbringing in North Philly, family, getting signed, inspo behind “Circle Closed,” and more!
AllHipHop: Being from North Philly, what was the household like growing up?
OD Quake: It was rough. It was me, my mom, my dad, had both of them thankfully. 2 sisters and a brother. We had a lot going on, always in trouble. Dropped out of school, I was a bad ass kid. I stayed in trouble, always getting suspended from school. My mom lost 2 jobs because she always had to come up to the school for me. That’s what made me get into music, kept me occupied.
AllHipHop: Who were you listening to coming up?
OD Quake: The main artists I still listen till this day is Boys II Men. Wanya Morris is my favorite artist.
AllHipHop: What did you like about him?
OD Quake: At first, it was more so vocal because at that age when I was younger, I liked listening to vocals, harmonies, and melodies. As I got older, I actually started listening to the lyrics. I’m like wow, these guys are the dopest.
AllHipHop: When did you realize you could do music for a living?
OD Quake: About 15 because in Philly, it was a hardcore era back then. Everybody was on their gangsta rap, that’s where I started off at. A couple months later, I branched off and started doing R&B for females. That’s when I knew I was going to take it serious.
AllHipHop: Who or what inspired your new single “Circle Closed”?
OD Quake: Just life period. Recently I’ve been going through some things with court, it’s life experiences. I dealt with a lot of fake friends, a bunch of fake people. I wanted to talk about that, let people know everybody isn’t your friend. That’s why I dropped that.
AllHipHop: Do you feel like as you get bigger, the more people switch up on you?
OD Quake: Yeah, I believe that. Honestly the way this world’s going now, people switch up on you for no reason. Whether you’re big, small, anything.
AllHipHop: How tight is your circle?
OD Quake: Very tight. It’s me, my wife and kids. [laughs] I have a total of 9 kids: 4 biological and 5 stepkids.
AllHipHop: How do you balance all that and the artistry?
OD Quake: Everything’s in my house. My studio’s in my basement. I’m doing everything. I’m doing my own videos, me and my wife. She records them, I edit them. Everything is DIY, especially coming from Philly. I took it upon myself.
AllHipHop: What’s your faith in God?
OD Quake: I believe in God, 100%. As of now, I’m not really too religious. It’s hard to believe a book, especially the way this world’s working. It’s hard for me to trust anything in this world. I definitely believe in God, but not a religious person.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI4gZv4bj3M
AllHipHop: How’d you find your way to Montana of 300’s record label, Fly Guy Entertainment?
OD Quake: Back in early 2017, I reached out to his manager KP. I was at a point in my life like “let me try to get help, get a manager or something.” I’m used to doing everything myself, I’m a one-man army. He actually hit me back, we started talking from there. He’s been helping me out. Around 2018, he had a show near me and his manager told me about it. He got me on the show, I performed. After that, Montana’s like “we’re going to connect.”
A year later, they had another show near me. I came out to the show, me and Montana chopped it up. We did the song “Wavy” on his album Views from the General’s Helmet. From there, he wanted to sign me and we kept working from there.
AllHipHop: Talk about the Haymaker playlist you created on Spotify to help grow people’s numbers.
OD Quake: I created the playlist to help artists that had music on Spotify. I asked them to follow the playlist and in return, I put their music on the playlist to try and help them generate new fans and new streams. Trying to help everyone out, while helping myself out at the same time.
AllHipHop: What do you need in the studio to record?
OD Quake: Nothing to be honest, the whole time. I don’t bring no juice, no water. I wake up and go at it.
AllHipHop: Goals for yourself at this point of your career?
OD Quake: I’m trying to build a successful Youtube channel, trying to get my views and subscribers up. Same on Spotify, Apple Music, all that. My goal’s to gain at least 100K new fans by the end of this year.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CEcuA38HixE
AllHipHop: How do you plan on doing that?
OD Quake: Lately I started a thing called “Friday Filmz,” with a z on the end. I’m shooting videos, editing them, dropping official videos every Friday. I’m promoting it. I’m paying people to post it, running ads on it. I’m doing a lot, keeping the engagement with my fans.
AllHipHop: Are you sitting on hella music?
OD Quake: Oh yeah, I live in the studio [laughs].
AllHipHop: Anything else you want to let us know?
OD Quake: Stay positive. Staying positive is one of the ways to being successful, keeping your mind clear. Have faith in God and you can get where you want.