A-Q

EARLY LIFE
Birth name; Gilbert Bani
Birthday; August 1, 1986 (age 33)
Birth place; Abia State, Nigeria.

Popularly known by stage name A-Q, He is a Nigerian rapper, and songwriter. He was born into a family of six and was raised in Surulere, Lagos State where he lived most of his life.

He attended Kings College Lagos, and had his tertiary education at the University of Lagos. His love for Hip Hop got him collecting hip-hop tracks at a young age, and learning the lyrics and miming them. It wasn't long before he started writing his own lyrics.

MUSIC CAREER
A-Q signed His first record deal in 2004 with Big Leaf Records where he was for two years before his solo work in 2003. In 2004, He dropped his first single titled "(W)Rap Nigeria", produced by kraftmatics, and was immediately followed by a music video.

Subsequently in 2005, He released a full album titled "Listen and Understand" followed by another single ""Things That We Do", which got him an international distribution deal. In 2006, he put out a mixtape titled Maga Must Pay vol 1.

He has worked with the likes of M-Trill, YQ, Vector, Yemi Alade, Morell, Boogey, Maytronomy, Pryse, Base One.

In a bid to finish his education, he took break from the music scene although he dropped a new single "Make Money", and accompanying video in 2008 produced by Laylow and featuring Morachi and Xtrim off an online mixtape titled Love and Money despite the stress of combing school and music.

His Black Friday Twitter Freestyle series which he started after successfully completing his University education under Hustle Inc, a record label he co-floated got him Don Jazzy's recognition who dubbed him “one of the sickest rappers alive”.

He recorded and released The Past Present and Future album in December 2010 which had the singles "Names" and "Champagne and Rum". Subsequently, he released more songs which include "Machine Gun Flow", "555 (5beats 5verses and 5blessings)", and "Why" featuring the likes of Vector and Pamela.

In December 2012 He released a mixtape titled "Make Your Best Rapper Look Stupid". His single "Agu Ji Ndi Men" was nominated for Best Rap Single at The Headies 2016. In 2018, A-Q was part of LAMBAugust, a rap campaign in Nigeria,[9] and released an album with Chocolatecity rapper Loose Kaynon called Crown.

A-Q won Lyricist on the Roll for "Crown" at the 13th edition of The Headies.
He recently released a new song titled God's Engineering




DISCOGRAPHY

Studio albums
Listen and Overstand (2005)
The Past Present and Future (2010)
Rose (2016)
Blessed Forever (2017)
Crown (with Loose Kaynon) (2018)
Mixtapes and EPs Edit
Maga Must Pay Mixtape (2006)
Love and Money (2008)
Make Your Best Rapper Look Stupid (2012)
Son of John (2014)
Son of John 2 (2015)
Singles Edit
"(W)rap Nigeria" (2005)
"Make Money" (2007)
"Names" (2010)
"Champagne and Rum" (2011)
"Why" (2012)
"God's Work" (2019)
"L.A.M.B Cypher" (2019) with M.I Abaga, Loose Kaynon and Blaqbonez
"You Must Feel Am" (2020) ft Oxlade