I would first describe my sound as minimal, yet exciting bumpy beats - that's just me personally, but [the] ballroom sound itself I will always leave in my opinion as unexplainable and just cunt. A mix between house and club, just super gay.
How did you first link up with Kingdom?
I first met Kingdom when we deejayed at an after party for artist Rashaad Newsome. We spoke then, but didn't immediately start our friendship more until after he moved to LA... right before Fade To Mind came into play.
It's pretty common now with the ease people find sub genres via the Internet to "jump on" a genre they find - which then becomes a brief trend, before they soon move on to another genre. Do you feel it's important for you to show others the true ballroom culture/sound?
YES, OF COURSE! Like, I can't speak for anybody else's music, but for ours, there's a long history of culture behind it. It's not just a trend, [nor] will it ever be. That is the difference people need to understand before they start to try and touch this stuff.
You seem to spot out a lot of celebrities (like Missy Elliott and Queen Latifah) who come out to ballroom parties and most of them show love and give respect to ball culture. Alongside Missy, who else have you spotted at ballroom parties whose work you respect a lot or whose appearance in the audience took you by surprise?
Starting with those two, people like Yo-Yo, Janet Jackson, Chrisette Michelle, Teyana Taylor, Garcelle Beauvais, Estelle, LeToya Luckett, Diplo, Boyz Noise and more have all been out to see balls. It's pretty amazing.
New Jersey has produced some fairly well known rappers - Redman, Queen Latifah, The Fugees, to name a few. Did you grow up listening to NJ Hip Hop? What are some of your favourite albums/tracks?
Of course, and all those people you named, not to forget THE Whitney Houston, all come from East Orange, NJ and surrounding areas, just as I do. I grew up listening to them and I appreciate that music more now than ever. Tonight's The Night, U.N.I.T.Y, Fu-gee-la, anything Whitney, and it goes on.
You're playing at the Sydney Mardi Gras this year, are you playing at the actual parade itself, or at one of the accompanying parties?
[This has come to pass, but to answer it]: No, I didn't play the actual parade, just surrounding parties and it was the best fun ever.
Rick Owens recently asked you to do a track for him recently. How did this collaboration come about? Have the two of you met in person?
Well, I noticed that Rick, who is a big Zebra Katz fan, got everybody that remixed [Zebra Katz's] Ima Read to do a remix of How Do You Feel? by Matthew Stone, who is a good artist friend of mine from London, featuring Rick's wife Michelle. The track was to be released by Rick on vinyl as a special giveaway at one of his runway shows. I have not met him personally yet, but the invitation has been extended once I am in Paris again.
You and DJ Sliink have been pals for a while, but it's only been recently that you two have actually been able to collaborate. What was the catalyst for this collaboration?
Well, Sliink and I, both Jersey natives and pretty much on top of our shit when it comes to Jersey DJs/producers out there, just felt the need to clash worlds and come up with this type of "Ballroom meets Jersey club" EP. We have two tracks so far: The Bitch and Werk'd It, which will be released via Fade to Mind, and will most likely become a series of small EPs.
Will we be seeing a possible collaboration between you and Missy in the future?
It's possible, Missy and I just chat and joke around with each other. She, as a friend, just did a small verse on one of my tracks, but I doubt that will be coming out officially. Other than that, no.
What else can we expect from MikeQ and the QweenBeat team in 2013?
From myself, you can expect EPs on Fade to Mind, Mad Decent, and the official debut of my label Qween Beat. With Qween Beat, we are prepping a first release which is going to be a showcase of our 14 artists, and then EPs continuing from there on out.
