Photo: Original Fani
Quentin Miller has spent years writing hits for the biggest acts in Hip-Hop, but now he's finally focusing on himself.
The seasoned rapper-songwriter recently shared his brand-new album Essentials, Vol. 2 via 1317 Recordings. His first major project in five years is a collection of tracks he's released over the years with a few new bangers.
"A lot of the songs that I have just kind of get released as a loosie," Miller tells iHeartRadio. "Because sometimes I'll go into my writer bag and I'm not really doing the artist thing so I'll just drop a song off. But some songs I'm like, 'you know...this one has potential.'"
"The Essential series is just a great way to bring some things to light that should have had some light on it and also introduce some new songs too. I'm excited, man," he adds.
The album contains 22 tracks, including collaborations with Tony Shhnow, Key!, Bump J, Teeflii, Shad da God, Jay 305, his WDNG Crshrs partner Thecoolismac, and more. The tracklist is a mixture of singles he released within the past three years and new songs like "What It Takes" and "Read Between The Lines." Miller technically started working on the album in 2021. Shortly after dropping his nah fr. EP, the Atlanta native dropped songs like "1 thing" with King Chip, "Syngery" with Peedi Crakk, "Love Yourself" with Nick Grant, and others as singles. Miller originally didn't intend to include the aforementioned collaborations on a project, but he always believed those records deserved a home. It wasn't until his friend Andrew Quesada encouraged him to compile those tracks for a second volume of his Essentials series. The first volume arrived in 2017.
Quentin Miller has come a long way since his early days in the rap duo WDNG Crshrs. After launching his solo career, the 35-year-old artist established himself as a prominent songwriter when he began writing songs with Drake. His lyrical contributions to Drake's music were scrutinized by Meek Mill in 2015 during their glorified beef. After the dust settled, Miller scored opportunities to cook up lyrics alongside Travis Scott, Nas, Big Sean, and others.
His biggest writing credit to date happened last year when he landed on Ye and Ty Dolla $ign's VULTURES album series. He also contributed to several songs on Ye's forthcoming album BULLY. Some songs from the album arrived as an EP earlier this year, but the full version is reportedly expected to drop next month.
We spoke to Quentin Miller about his new album, working with Ye, and more. Scroll below for the full conversation and watch the trippy visuals for "Vibrate High" below.
iHR: How's life been treating you lately Quentin?
QM: Life has been amazing, man. I'm just appreciating every step, everything that comes my way. Had a lot of opportunities to do a lot of big things, so just appreciative.
I think things have gotten better for you despite everything you've been through. You've been quite active in the studio over the past four years working on your new album, Essentials Vol. 2. What can fans expect to hear?
I feel like they can expect creativity. I feel like on this project I think I have something for every kind of hip hop fan, whether it's the melodic rap fan, whether it's the traditional rap fan. I feel like I kind of cover all the hip hop bases on it, so I'm excited to see what songs people gravitate to, what groups gravitate to what songs, stuff like that.
The tracklist is crazy man. I feel like it's a mixture of newer artists and rappers that have been in the game for a while, like Peedi Crakk and Teeflii. Why did you feel it was important to include them on this album?
Honestly, I was making this album since 2021, and I didn't even know that I was doing it. Even when I released the song with Peedi Crakk, I was at a stage in my life at that time where I was like, man, I'm just putting stuff out. So I had released it on YouTube and just put it out, and I remember thinking, "Man, that was a waste." I really wish I could have put that on a project. It was a special record. So just the opportunity to do the Essentials again, is just a perfect opportunity to take songs like the song I got with Teeflii, "Don't Play," and really give 'em the light that I felt like they should have had, rather than just kind of putting it out there on some just random loosie joints.
Word, I think you found a great place for them. You've also got the record with Bump J. I feel like you guys had great chemistry on that one. Talk about how you made the record.
I met Bump J during my time working with Vultures and Ye and Ty Dolla $ign. I met him out in Dubai and I met him at Italy too. He's just a cool dude, man. We had great conversations. He would just hit me with the game and stuff that he'd been through. He's a super solid dude. So I was really appreciative when I made the joint, I was like, 'Man, I wonder if he going to rock with me on it. And he got it right back to me, man. It was special. Shout out to Bump J. That came out great.
Yeah it did. Earlier, you said you were appreciative of the big opportunities you got to experience while making this album. I'm sure working on Vultures was a pretty big opportunity.
That was definitely one of the highlights of my career, especially the writer career.
I remember last year you shouted out The Game and Tracey Mills for putting you on. How did they help you land on that project, and what was it like working with Ye?
Yeah, I mean, like I said, Game initially introduced me and then the Tracey Mills plug, and I was the final plug. That was just a great time getting a bond with Ye and with Ty, just out of the country. Soaking up game, soaking up inspiration. I remember I was working on the "Stars" record, the first song Vultures 1, and I remember I was so nervous, man. It was just like, man, this is such a big opportunity. I went off in the corner. I'm writing a song or whatever, and Ty came and found me. He was like, "Bro, what you doing, bro? Come on." You know what I'm saying? When I did it and people was rocking with it, that was a big "Okay, I'm in the right place moment. It was just a great memory, man. One of the best birthdays of my life.
Wow, you got to work with them on your birthday?
Yeah, well, I kept going back and forth working with them for some time. So yeah, I had spent a couple birthdays with them. Yeah, it was a great time.
What a birthday present. You did four tracks on that project, right?
Yeah, I did four on Vultures 1. I think I did two or three on Vultures 2, and then some joints on Bully. Unfortunately, it went out the way it went.
How did you feel about that rollout, man? It seemed like it was all over the place.
Yeah, man. I mean, it was a little disheartening to see him just kind of throw the album out there on Twitter and stuff like that, the way he did, because I thought that the album was really special, and we really work really hard on it. But it is what it is. I'm still appreciative and grateful for the time, man.
When did you get the idea to drop Essentials, Vol. 2?
Honestly, I think my man, Andrew Quesada. He kind of dropped the idea in my head a little bit. It was something that I had already been working on with Original Fani. We did the first one, and so I just linked back with Original Fani again to bring it back. It was just a great way to bring back these records. Like I said, a lot of these records I felt like just one deserved a real mix on it, a real deep dive into, so it gave me a great opportunity to do that and also get some records off. Show some new ideas and creativity.
You worked with Hit-Boy on a couple of the records. What other producers did you tap in with for this one?
Hit-Boy, Hollywood Cole, Mexiko DRO. Damn James. Jansport J, myself, Nick Mouse. Good friends, man. Good friends. We didn't know that we were making this. I guess we're just releasing this shit. Who knew that it would come together and be cohesive like this? It's crazy. I was saying to my friend Ken the other day, man, it started off as just a collection of songs. Now it's probably my favorite project of mines. I think this is my favorite one for sure, and it was not intended at all.
Is there anything else that stands out on the project that you want the people to pay attention to or look out for?
I have my standouts, but it is a nice amount of songs, so I'm just interested to see what stands out to people. When I dropped 'Hey! Thanks A Lot 3, "Potential" was not my favorite song at all, and it was just the biggest song on there. It just went crazy. I don't know why. So it is always interesting to see what people gravitate to and how different it is or if you're on target.
You've accomplished a lot in your 10+ years as a solo artist. How do you feel that you've grown from your debut project to your latest album?
I've released a few loosies over the years, but I really haven't dropped a project since 2020. I don't know, it's like when I was younger I was able to just kind of just say whatever. I guess the older I get, the less I can do that. Not that I'm a super preachy rapper or anything, but I don't know. It just requires a little more. But I definitely feel the growth. I definitely stopped cutting corners that I used to cut, if that makes any sense. The game developed and I'm excited for people to see. This album has a lot of the songs I've released over the years — just kind of remastered and reworked. It's some new stuff on there too. But yeah, I'm excited for people to see the growth for sure.