So FN Dope Magazine Issue 13

Our cover artist hardly needs an introduction. Not only is he a member of one of the most recognized R&B groups of the late 90’s and early 2000’s, but he is so much more. A father, a husband, a community leader, and philanthropist are just some of the many hats that he wears and now he is taking his passion and combining it with his mission to connect men all around the world in the spirit of unity. Check out our exclusive interview with Q Parker as we talk about building his legacy through music, brotherhood, and service to his community.

What is happening my brother? We appreciate you taking the time to interview with us. Glad we could finally make this happen.

Q PARKER: It’s a pleasure man.

SFND MAG: We certainly wish that we could have done the interview under better circumstances. Wish we could have done this face to face, but video conference is the next best thing considering the fact that Covid-19 has the entire world being still right now. How are you and your family holding up in this crisis?

Q PARKER: All is well.... All is well. I’m looking at this as needed time you know. My wife and I get to spend more time together. Our son, (we have a 10th grader) he is in the house and we are able to do some things together. I’m actually loving this time being in quarantine so close to those I love. So what I’m doing is, I am making sure that I’m just pouring and pouring, because there will come a time when we have to go back to the hustle and bustle. However, I want to have poured so much into my wife and our children that if I need two weeks of freedom to get back in the grind, nobody suffers because during this quarantine time I would have given them so much love, attention, and time.

SFND MAG: That’s major. The unfortunate thing is that it took something like this, especially for us because we are always on the hustle and grind trying to be those providers that sometimes we may miss out on those small increments of time where you are learning about your son or daughter, your wife or even yourself. So for us, time with our loved ones is always appreciated.

Q PARKER: I agree

SFND MAG: So we wanted to do a little icebreaker with you and take a minute to go down memory lane. Many people know you as 1/4 of one of the biggest R&B groups of the late 90’s and early 2000’s. You’ve had hits such as “Cupid”, “Peaches & Cream”, “Only You” and “It’s Over Now”. What was it like being in not only one of the hottest R&B groups at that time but also on one of the hottest record labels as well?

Q PARKER: You know, I think that I enjoy it more now than I could recognize and realize while it was actually happening, because I see now that we are attached to an era of music that will go down in history books. When you talk about Bad Boy and the reign that Bad Boy had from about 94’ until 2005; in those ten years Bad Boy was the hottest. So you can’t talk about the evolution of Hip-Hop and R&B without talking about Bad Boy and you can’t talk about Bad Boy without mentioning 112. You can’t talk about 112 without mentioning Q, Mike, Slim, and Daron and so for me that’s legacy work. I think we all strive to do work that will live long after you are no longer here. So to be connected to such a brand with such rich history like Bad Boy and 112 and not just traveling alone, but to be able to share these experiences with my brothers Slim, Mike, and Daron, was the ultimate.

SFND MAG: That is awesome! Speaking of Slim, Mike, and Daron, I know you may have noticed, groups like B2K and Pretty Ricky starting to go back on reunion tours lately. We know the fans want to see 112 back on the stage and hear some of those hits. What is your relationship like with the rest of the guys?

Photography by Michael W. Eaton

Is that even a possibility?

Q PARKER: Well, you know man, time is always the key. Right now, we are all just kind of doing our thing. When you consider that we’ve been together since middle school. We’re talking about 12 and 13. I just had my 43rd birthday. So we’re talking 30 plus years. Oh well… my wife just reminded me 44th birthday. [LAUGHS] So when you think about all of those years, it’s just difficult for a man to fully identify with his individual calling and his individual purpose without affecting the movement of the group. It’s not easy, however I ‘d like to say that there are some things that I needed to accomplish as Q Parker and that I needed to step aside for a second just so that I could answer the call that I feel like I had been called to lead. Therefore, I had to step away for a little bit so that I could finalize all of these things that I had been destined to do as Q Parker, and not necessarily Q Parker of 112.

SFND MAG: No doubt. That is actually a nice segue to our next question. So obviously, you have had a really successful career in music as a singer / songwriter however, more recently we have noticed that you have shifted your focus and your efforts more towards the community. Could you tell us a little about your organization, Brothers United of Atlanta?

Q PARKER: Yes, Brothers United started the whole Q Parker Legacy Movement. It is what has me so attached to black men and to men all over this world and to the community. I believe that, I didn’t get here without the investment, the thoughts, and the prayers of not only family, but also the community. Because I now have a platform and some level of influence, it is my responsibility to pour it back in the community. In 2014, I went though one of the most life altering stages in my life where I was facing divorce. My wife and I are just weren’t seeing eye to eye, and the reason was because of my lack of commitment and my inability to operate as full man and really connect to what the responsibilities that men are attached to. Because I couldn’t do that, it affected my marriage, it affected my relationship with my children, and it even affected my career in some ways. I had to just sit down and look myself in the face and say,” Who are you” minus the records, minus the awards minus the acclaim. “Who are you and what do you want your legacy to be.” I’ll never forget. This is an important story. My phone was hacked into back when icloud email was me.com. I lost access and my manager at the time suggested that we need to come up with a new email address and it just hit me; QP Legacy. That was the first time I had even spoken the word legacy that would now make me accountable for doing the work that would give me a great legacy. I know that I’ve already done the 112 stuff, but who is Q Parker as a man. I realized that during this time I wanted to be better, but I just didn’t have anyone to talk to. I didn’t have anyone that I felt I could trust enough to talk about my transgressions, my failures, or me falling short or any of that. I just didn’t want just any other brother to experience that so, Brothers United was created. It’s group therapy man. It’s a space that’s safe where men come together and we motivate and encourage each other. We meet once a month and we have a Monday morning prayer call every Monday morning. Then from Brothers United came Sisters United and from that came Couples United and from there Youth United, which is our summer camp. For the final piece to the Legacy Foundation, we do this annual initiative for the senior citizens community. The reason why my foundation’s mission is to impact every aspect the family, is because when I was going through tough times, I saw how my inability to be a mature man affected not only me , but also it affected my wife as a woman. It also affected our marriage as a couple and it affected our children. It even affected my parents and the in-laws. So I wanted everything I did from a communal standpoint to impact every aspect of the family component. So that’s what the Q Parker Legacy is, and that is what we are committed to.

SFND MAG: That is phenomenal. For us, being black men, especially coming from the South, we never really heard people talk much about legacy. That wasn’t a black and brown thing. That was a subject often discussed by wealthier white men. They talked about legacy and what they were going to leave behind whether it was tangible things, or whether it was a transfer of knowledge. So to hear you talk passionately about legacy and really having that knowledge transfer and safe haven is really refreshing. Accountability is so important. We must hold each other accountable as men to do exactly the things that you are talking about, because if we don’t then we will not have that legacy. That is very powerful. So in the spirit of that movement that has been created through Brothers United, you’ve also been recording an album entitled, The Bridge Project. Tell us about the project.

Photography by Michael W. Eaton

Q PARKER: Yes. So… again, everything is a derivative of this movement of men. I’ve just been called to gather and galvanize men because I believe that the day that men accept their full responsibility and operate in our greatness, everything connected to us wins. So when we win, our children win. When we win, the community wins, but we have to have a certain mindset, and so I wanted to create a project to motivationally impact and empower men all over this world. The Bridge Project initially was to redefine and recement the lifestyle standards and cultural codes of men. “Who are we?” “What were we created to do”? “What does it really mean to be my brother’s keeper?’ “ How does iron truly sharpen iron?” “How do you present yourself the sharpened tool to sharpen someone else?” I wanted to spread this mission musically. In addition to the musical piece, there are three other components of this Bridge Project movement, so I’m very careful when we talk about The Bridge Project because it’s not just the album, but it is a full fledged movement. We have a musical piece, which is the album. We are also filming a documentary just talking about the evolution of men; so we are talking to a lot of distinguished men who can give us insight. For the third component we took the album and made it the soundtrack to the featured film that we are filming called Rescue Me. Rescue Me is a story of failure, fame, and faith. It’s a faith-based movie, which I’ll be starring in as well as some of my colleagues. Many of them are brothers that are on the album. I started my own production company and partnered with Manns/Mackie Studios to produce the movie. The forth component is of The Bridge Project movement is a forty day men’s affirmation book to continue the motivation and inspiration. In addition to doing all of these things, it took me back to my own personal testimony, growing up in the church, but getting an R&B record deal and I saw right then and there the vision. I saw how Gospel was here, and R&B was over there. I wanted to build a bridge that would connect these two worlds that are often pitted against each other. So I got on the phone and I started calling all the brothers I knew from Gospel to R&B and I thought if we could blend these two genres together and show brotherhood and community then it would be the first leg of this movement where magic happens. I was able to get 55 guys on this project to commit to this movement of brotherhood. There are 55 guys that represent the Gospel and R&B industry and this project is amazing. If I had to just run down a list, we’re talking Jonathan McReynolds, Travis Greene, Todd Dulaney, VaShawn Mitchell, Byron Cage, Darwin Hobbs, John P. Kee. That’s just a few on the Gospel side. On the R&B side, there is Ginuwine, Tank, Bobby Valentino, Ruben Studdard, Lyfe Jennings, Jacquees and more. It’s just an amazing project of men coming together, loving each other, and spreading this movement of brotherhood and unity. I’m proud of it. To me, it is the best musical work that I’ve ever done, and I know that’s saying a lot considering all that I’ve been able to accomplish with 112. However, serving this community, and giving the people something that can actually fuel them to become better is what drives me and I’m just proud of this project and movement.

SFND MAG: Q, you have quite a few Gospel giants and R&B stars on the album. How did you manage to get so many high profile artists to commit to doing a project of this magnitude? Did you schedule it out? Did you have a list? If so who were some of the people that did not make the album?

Q PARKER: So… whenever you’re in a group, everyone has to identify with specific role. My role in 112, was “the connector”… “the politician”… the guy who would go in the radio station and I’d get the program director’s number or I’d get the promoter’s number and I’d just build the relationship. Over the years, I’ve established some really great relationships to the point where it showed itself because when I picked up the phone and called these guys, it wasn’t about money. It was a yes simply because “I rock with you.” So a lot of guys are on the album simply because I asked and because I had good credit and a good reputation we out here in these streets with these guys. They were just like “It’s all good.” Now I will say to you, that it is difficult enough just getting one feature on an album. You guys know that. [LAUGHS] So to get 55 guys to commit just showed me that this was something that I was called to do. It also showed me that if God gives you a vision, He will make provision. I had to be willing to follow the vision to a “T” because there were some people that I wanted on the record that maybe either declined, didn’t call back in time or maybe I tried to force on a record. However, I had to be obedient and just believe enough to just show up and allow everything to happen. So the 55 guys that did commit were the guys that were supposed to have been on the record and I wouldn’t change it for anything.

Photography by Michael W. Eaton

Photography by Michael W. Eaton

Photography by Michael W. Eaton

SFND MAG: We keep hearing the number 55. Was there any significance to this number or is this just where you ended up after the smoke cleared? Q PARKER: No, to be honest, I just went in my phone and started calling guys. In 2016, coming out of my storm, I wanted to do a Gospel/Inspirational record, and so I called three of my good friends to Atlanta. I flew them down here. I called my good friend Marcus Devine, who is an incredible songwriter and producer. I called my brother Eric Dawkins, who is an extraordinary vocalist, songwriter and producer and another good friend of mine named Bigg Makk. We got in the studio and just started recording. I had this idea to do a song called “Brothers United” and the original goal was to have the four of us on the song. We all recorded the song and one day I just got this vision that this would be this generation’s “We Are the World.” From that day, I got on the phone and just started calling guys. The song was already written and demoed, but I had to be the ultimate puzzle maker. It’s only a three-minute song, and so to get 46 guys on this one record called “I Need You” was going to be a huge task. I didn’t even know that there was going to be 46 guys on one song but as I started identifying with their voices, I would just get them to sing this line or that line and it just started coming together. So the end result was 46 guys on “I Need You” and the remaining nine songs were a collaboration of duos that blend a Gospel singer and R&B singer together to show that sonically, the gift is the gift and that it doesn’t matter what genre you sing when you are pushing positivity and community and brotherhood. That’s why we’re going to win. It just came out incredible.

SFND MAG: Speaking of the record, we heard the new single “Made For,” and it completely blew us away. Listening to the power, and clarity of the vocals, the precision of production and the movement of the song and modulations were incredible. It’s as if you all perfectly placed all the components that make up a good song into that record. It was very well orchestrated. We were wondering if we could look forward to the rest of the album to being on this level?

Q PARKER: I’ll tell you this. First of all, let me just shout out my brothers Avery Wilson, Deitrick Haddon, Eric Dawkins and also my production partner Jeremy James aka Jay Jay. Let me say, Eric wrote an amazing record man. I told him that if we were going to start this movement, then we first would have to define what the movement is. So we’re talking about this movement of brotherhood, so we had to define, “What were men made for? “What were we called to be?” That is how the song came about. He took the conversation that we had and went back to L.A. and wrote an amazing song. So big shout out to my brother Eric Dawkins and also Deitrick and Avery being on it blending these worlds sonically. You know, for this project I wanted to pair the most abstract tones that could show that we are all gifted and the gifts are magnetized to each other. So you have the lead single “Made For” that features Avery, Deitrick, and Eric, and then we have other collaborations on the record. There’s a record called “Unstoppable” featuring Mali Music and Bobby Valentino. We have another record called “Stars” featuring Courtney Wilson and Case. There’s another that I’m featured on ft Todd Delaney and another called My Brother’s Keeper featuring Jonathan McReynolds and Musiq Soulchild. So when you talk about the blending of these vocalists I was like a kid in a candy store because not only am I friends of these guys but I’m also fans of them as well. I’m also fan of Quincy Jones as well. He is one of my mentors and so to see what he did with the “We Are The World” movement and to see that I was orchestrating and producing a similar project was a humbling experience and also a task that I took on because I know that I was called to do this. The whole project was fun to record. It is a process that I will never forget. I enjoyed every single bit of it man and we’re just getting started because when we do get back to there being a sense of regularity you’ll see the performances behind it. Also, going back to the movie, a lot of the guys that are on the record are in the movie. So this is a movie like you’ve never seen before. It’s like music videos mixed in with storyline.

SFND MAG: I’m just trying to see why no one sent me a script. [ LAUGHS]

Q: PARKER: Say the word because we are casting right now.

SFND MAG: Let me know. I’ll come audition.Q PARKER: Say no more.

SFND MAG: No doubt! So, when can we expect The Bridge Project to be complete?

Q PARKER: So, the project is complete. All the components are done. We are just doing the final editing to the 40 Day Men’s Affirmation book and we are now doing the preproduction for the movie Rescue Me, but the actual album is complete. We had a scheduled date of June for the release, but considering everything going on we may push that back and we may just go into a singles movement where “Made For” is the current single and now we are gearing up for the big “I Need You” record. Once we get some clear vision as to what the future holds as it relates to our movement and us being able to get out here and work the record, then we’ll determine and decide and actual street date. For now, we’re going to just keep serving the mission and continue moving these records so that when the album is released people will have already heard three or four songs off the project and will want to go and get the full project.

SFND MAG: Well, we will definitely be looking for it. Now, let us ask you this. Hypothetically, if you could go back in time or reverse time on The Bridge Project and get anyone on the project that maybe did not answer the call or had a scheduling conflict etc. then who would it be?

Q PARKER: So one of my all time favorite influences is Reverend John P. Kee and so I was able to get him on the album to be apart. I actually got in contact with him late after I had mixed and mastered the entire project. He responded that he’d do whatever was needed. So the song he is on, I actually went back and remastered it. That’s just how bad I wanted him on the record, but it also would have been a dream come true to have some of the guys from Commissioned to be a part of it. During the time of recording, they were gearing up for their reunion tour, they were doing a whole lot of things, and so our timing did not allow us to get together. But again, this is The Bridge Project: Brothers United Volume 1 and so I know that once everybody gets wind of what this movement is about, when we come back around there’ll be many more guys open and willing. I’m just grateful and blessed that those that did say yes and those whose schedules aligned because when you are putting together a project of this magnitude it is not easy. Some had to send in their vocal sessions, and you have to realize that you are on someone else’s time. So, what is important to you or 911 to you may not be 911 to someone else. So I learned a lot of patience. I learned how to get rid of pride because there were moments where, and I’m being real with you, I felt like if people weren’t going to be timely about sending in their files I was just going to just move on. So I did have those moments, but it was all worth it because every time I was at my wits end, that’s when I got the email. So it was all worth it. I’m proud of the guys that are on it. I’m proud of everyone that played a part from AP and the AP Factor for mixing the record and Glenn Schick for mastering and all of the guys that are in front and behind the scenes to make this a monumental legacy project get to the finish line. Also my partners eOne; eOne Nashville…Gina Miller, Omega for seeing the vision down there and partnering with us.

SFND MAG: Let us switch gears a bit. Are there any other endeavors or projects that you are working on currently or that you plan to work on when we get back to business after the pandemic? We saw you mention a new platform called MANCODE 100. Give us a little information on that.

Q PARKER: MANCODE 100. That’s how we pronounce it MANCODE One Hunnid.[LAUGHS] It’s understanding that with inception there came with us a set of responsibilities, but not only a set of responsibilities but we were equipped with all the tools that we need to carry out and fulfill these responsibilities. Somewhere along life and evolution, a lot of us became detached from the original purpose of that was placed on man and that is to abide by a certain code and that is the MANCODE. For years, I and so many others thought the man code was just taking each other’s secrets to the grave. However, as I’ve matured and grown I’ve realize that man code means so much more. It is being accountable. It is truly being my brother’s keeper and to let your iron truly sharpen another man’s iron. Not only to connect and live by that, but when we have discussions be 100 with each other all the way across the board. So MANCODE 100 is just a platform where we just talk real. It is a division of Brothers United of Atlanta. We are 100 with each other and we are just talking about cementing and redefining and reclaiming the mindset of the man so that he understands that there is a code that we should abide by and that is the true man code and not some of the things that we’ve grown to define man code as.

SFND MAG: Q, we can’t thank you enough for interviewing with us. You have truly been an inspiration man and we have definitely enjoyed this time spent with you today. We are sincerely humbled. We look up to you and respect what you are doing. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to continue to support all that you have going on.

Q PARKER: I appreciate you guys for allowing me to grace the cover of So FN Dope Magazine because I believe that you guys are So FN Dope. I’ve been a fan since I was introduced to you. So to have you guys to be interested in little ol’ Q Parker from Thomasville it means a lot to me. So please just continue to support by following the Q Parker Legacy Movement. That is qparkerlegacyfoundation.org. The Bridge Project movement is officialbridgeproject.com. ; Rescueme.movie is the film. Born Again is my clothing brand. I’m a born again Christian, unashamed, unapologetic and a believer. Shout out to my partner Shaunte and the entire Kingdom Builders and my partnership with them, and also me @qparker112 on all platforms, but it means a lot to me that you guys would think it necessary to spend this time with me today and allow me the opportunity to talk about all the things I have going on. That means a lot to me, so thank you.

SFND MAG: It was our pleasure.