Southeast Performer 8/2008

The Southeast Performer, July issue

Do It! Documents a Hustler’s Struggle

By Charley Lee; photos by Wendy Englehardt

Atlanta indie rapper Janale Harris, better known as Quanstar, knows exactly how to get his hustle on. And if there’s anyone who knows what struggle is all about, it would be him. Quanstar began his rap career as most rappers do, freestyling in front of mirrors and writing lyrics. He soon delved into the underground rapbattling scene and in 2001 he hooked up with Evaready RAW to start First Team Music. The band dropped two mildly successful albums but couldn’t breakthrough. Since the inception of First Team, Quanstar has been on the grind developing his style and becoming a shameless self-promoter. He has released five albums, booked six national tours, and is holding down two jobs. Not to mention this has all been done amidst housing foreclosure and Quanstar’s duties as a father.

“After 10 years of progression as an artist, regression as a student and unhappily functioning in society, working places that I hate for people that I despise,” says Quanstar, “I decided to step in the game.”

The process of trying to break through and become a recognized artist has been well-documented on Quanstar’s latest project, Do It!: A Documentary. The project chronicles six months in which Quanstar and crew devote all their time and energy to promoting, touring, recording and trying by any means possible to get the word out.

“Anthony Neal [the film’s co-producer] and I worked for Starbuck’s at the time,” recalls Quanstar. “I knew he had a production company, and he knew I rhymed and toured all of the time. One day I pitched the idea to him, and we started recording the next week. We did the whole film on a $1500 budget. The funniest thing about the movie is that 60 percent of the camera work was done by me. I carried that camera everywhere for six months. I think we had over 100 hours of footage between the both us, and Anthony went through all of that himself to cut it down to the best three hours. Then I came through, and we chopped it up some more until the finished project was ready.”

Borrowing a little from old school hip-hop and politically conscious rappers such as dead prez and Common, Quanstar’s message isn’t necessarily politically motivated. Quanstar is more so on a mission to change the rap game rather than the world. Quanstar along with his friends from the Hip Hop Congress (HHC), is putting out a message to evolve hip-hop culture by inspiring social action and creativity within the community through local music events.

“When people want more, they’ll get more,” explains Quanstar. “The entertainment industry is the only 100 percent consumer controlled industry in this country. If people want these companies and stations to change, they have to speak a language that they understand: money. Buy shit that you want mainstream to reflect. Don’t listen to or watch stations that promote music that is unacceptable to your standards. Stop going to clubs that play a lot of the music you don’t like, and stop buying music from artists that send messages you don’t approve of.”

The low-budget documentary features songs from the soundtrack that it’s paired with. Jazz singer Chanel Mosley adds a little flavor to the song “Drunken Man’s Prayer,” and Lena Moon provides the beats for the track “Back in the Day.” A lot of the music on the DVD is from concert gigs and improv shows from on the road.

Do It!: A Documentary takes a pointed look at what it really takes to make it in such a fickle industry. Do It! is in no way a feel-good story. At many times, it looks as though Quanstar should just call it quits — especially when his tour is cancelled due to lack of sponsors — but it’s that drive and determination that make him an underdog worth rooting for. One gets to see the ugly side of everything in this DVD, from troubles with personal and professional finances, to the sometimes futile process of promoting and the struggle to maintain a regular life amongst the chaos. It’s a realistic view of the music industry and what it takes to keep one’s artistic integrity. The DVD which is available online at Quanstar’s MySpace and CD Baby, as well as at Criminal Records and other local music spots, features appearances and performances from Evaready RAW, Metrognome, Akil (Jurassic 5), D.R.E.S. tha Beatnik, Cypher Linguistics, Ricky Raw, Bboy Fidget, Lotus Tribe, Lady Maverick and several other up-and-coming artists. Quanstar hopes that with the release of the DVD, more avenues of opportunity will open up for him.

“We live in a multimedia society,” he says. “No one wants to buy just CDs anymore. So it’s the job of the artist and the company marketing the artist to find their new angle to fans and adapt. Do It! is just the tip of the iceberg. We’re going to film two more documentaries within the next year.”

But this is only the beginning for the 32-year-old father of one. Quanstar will also be playing The Vans Warped Tour on July 9 in Atlanta. The MC and his cohorts also have plans to go on the sixth installment of the “Bring Your ‘A’ Game Tour” in September, which will end up being part of the filming for the next documentary. Quanstar will also be coming out with a book, Water from Turnips, a graphic novel by Visual Poetry, and interestingly enough, a cooking show.

“My book will be out in October,” he says. “My cooking show will be in preproduction soon, which will be the launch of my cookbook. An investor or two with a real idea of what we do and how we do it will come along so we won’t have to do this out of our pockets.” There will also be a one-night-only screening for Do It!: A Documentary at the Midtown Arts Cinemas in Atlanta on August 7.

www.myspace.com/quanstar