Artist Spotlight - Quince
Our Artist Spotlight for the month of March is a talented hip-hop artist, radio DJ, founder of Holdown Upstate, and avid supporter of the arts, Mykel "Quince" Myrick. You may have heard him on Tunes 92.5 during his afternoon show “In the Mix With Quince.” Quince is a recent recipient of the 11th Annual 20 Under 40 Award.
Quince was born in Tampa Bay, FL and moved to Central New York at a young age. Growing up, he always enjoyed creating beats and sounds, however, he did not start performing live until he moved to the Watertown area. When Quince moved up north, he formed the band Out Chasing Lions that featured a mashup of rock and rap. Quince was thankful to have a platform to perform hip-hop because that was a genre of live music that the Watertown area was lacking at the time. Quince also used his platform to allow other hip-hop artists in the area an opportunity to perform. The band would cut the second half of their show and feature other artists, which is how the organization Holdown Upstate formed. The non-profits’ goal is to “engage and encourage community involvement, through awareness and empowerment in the Upstate, NY area.” Quince shared that “whatever platform I had, the goal was to make sure everybody else could do their thing and be represented.”
Quince has performed in a number of places across Upstate, NY including Watertown, Syracuse, Rochester, and Ithaca and has gotten the chance to meet and connect with many other talented artists around the area. He wanted to “shine a spotlight on these places . . . all these individuals and all these little cultures here” so he created a segment called Local Legendz, which airs every Thursday at 3:15 pm on Tunes 92.5/104.5 and Facebook Live. The segment features works by local musicians including professionally recorded tracks, special guests, and live on-air performances.
“Trust in your own creative process . . . stay open to people and conversations and opportunities” is Quince’s advice to any aspiring artist. “If you put the work in, you’ll find that the landscape changes around you, you’ll find that the conversations you have with people change and that you end up bumping into the people that are also working for what they do, whether it’s hip-hop, another style of music, or whatever their craft might be . . . You go through certain processes where it creates commonalities . . . I bet we go through similar experiences as artists and musicians that allow us to talk at length about it.”
Holdown Upstate hosts an open mic night every first and third Sunday of the month at the Pure Lounge in Watertown, NY from Noon to 3 PM and invites all genres of artists to perform. To find out more about Quince and his projects watch the full interview and click the links below.
Watch the interview HERE.