Written by Written by @bryce
Intro
In a world where the echoes of mainstream success often drown out the nuanced tales of exceptional artists, there emerges a voice that demands recognition. Join me on a journey into the underappreciated realm of Sylvan LaCue. He’s a lyrical maestro whose story is as compelling as his verses. As we delve into the depths of his transformative career in today’s “Under 1 Million” artist feature, we uncover not just an artist, but a resilient soul whose artistry transcends the boundaries of brilliance. Let’s dive into the uncelebrated narrative of Sylvan LaCue, a name that deserves resonance far beyond the underground!
History
Sylvan LaCue, formerly known as “QuESt” Started his rap career in 2009. He felt inspired by Drake’s sudden success on the tape “So Far Gone” released in February of that year. During this time, he was 17, and struggling a lot finding independence. Trying and repeatedly failing to leave home and find his own footing. After competing in Jermaine Dupri’s “Survival of the MCs” competition, beating out 660 other MCs Sylvan Lacue found himself earning a deal with Dupri’s new label “TAG Records”. This was an amazing opportunity, but it didn’t really go anywhere since the label quietly disappeared the same year. This led to a time when Sylvan released a lot of music under the “QuESt” name, gaining a decent following.
Photo: Rap-Up.com
In 2011, He was independently living and working full-time as a janitor. In the same year, his father, recently released from jail, moved in with him. He convinced Sylvan to let him take control of the financial responsibilities. In May 2012, this decision resulted in their eviction. With that, losing his job, and his car, Sylvan was in a pretty tough spot.
From Miami to San Diego
He nearly gave up on the rap game. He had doubts of it ever leading to anything, as he hadn’t yet seen any success or recognition despite releasing quite a few independent works. After consulting his A&R representative, under her advice, he decided to take some time not to do anything and see where things go.
In 2013 Sylvan decided to leave his hometown of Miami Florida to move to San Diego California. He hoped it would provide him with a much-needed change of scenery. In early 2013, he seized the opportunity to tour with the Maryland rapper Logic on his “Welcome to Forever” tour. This was a fantastic transitioning point for Sylvan, as it presented him an opportunity to get friendly with Chris Zarou, the president of the label Visionary Music Group who promptly signed him in August of 2013.
Cover by Melanie Domzalski
Searching Sylvan
About a year later, September 2nd of 2014 to be exact, Sylvan took the opportunity to release his mixtape “Searching Sylvan” under the “QuESt” name. “The Huffington Post” covered it, naming him one of their “11 artists you need to know for the rest of 2014.” They said, “Sylvan is about to prove himself as one of the most promising storytellers in hip hop” and that it was “not just one of the best mixtapes or hip hop releases this year, it is one of the best albums all year.” That’s massive praise for someone that’s never really been heard of in the general public, but if you ask me, it’s 100% deserved.
Before the end of 2014, the Huffington Post listed him a second time, placing him and his mixtape “Searching Sylvan” at #6 of their “15 most underrated albums of the year” list. Searching Sylvan was, as you can hopefully tell based on the Huffington Post covering him twice, was a pretty explosive debut release for Sylvan. It’s one of my personal favorite releases of the 2010s because it’s such an amazing showcase of his skills and really speaks to why I think he’s one of the best and one of the most underrated of his generation.
Gaining independence from the Visionary Music Group label opened doors for Sylvan LaCue to collaborate with incredible talents like 6ix and even Logic, who contributed to the production. It even let him work with people like Jon Bellion. That’s a pretty amazing opportunity for someone just getting into the game.
Hunger
His lyrical prowess really excels here too. His second verse on “Hunger” is one of the most impressive verses of 2014. He opens the verse by saying he hasn’t been threatened by an album since he heard Food and Liquor. For those that don’t know, “Food & Liquor” is the debut album from Lupe Fiasco released in 2006. It’s widely regarded as one of the best debut albums across the board, commercially and critically. So Sylvan here saying that It’s the last time he felt threatened, not even outdone but literally just threatened is a pretty big claim to be making.
He goes on to compare himself to many other rappers, showing that he’s one of the best. Quote, “I’m jigga with the double time Nas on his esco, X on a couple lines Common resurrected, Jadakiss up on his gunlines Lloyd banks 03, gunning with the punchlines” and he keeps going. He’s claiming that he’s one of the best to ever do it, taking some incredible qualities from some rappers widely regarded as the best in the game, like Jay-z, Nas, Common, and others. This shows that he’s not playing around, and it just screams confidence, which is something that a lot of artists just getting into the game could use a lot more of and look to Sylvan for.
No Love In The City
The track “No Love in The City” showcases a lot more of his storytelling. It’s a track where he speaks on his complicated relationship with his hometown Miami. He talks about people coming from across the world to see it, but in his own words “It’s a cold world in the hottest city around”, and “It’s crazy, paradise is a paradox the majority of us struggle affording a pair of socks” This shows that he feels Miami Florida is a very popular city for the likes of tourists, and people coming from all around to see the town and see, but he feels it’s very cold-blooded. The first line in this verse provides a glimpse into this, detailing a friend he had who was murdered over an iPhone.
This is taken into further detail in the second verse though. He goes into more detail about this friend and what they did together. He talks about how they used to rap together in high school and battled for respect. But sadly, he hadn’t really seen him since then. They reconnected a few years later, but he was killed not long after that.
He speaks about how his cousin got murdered because of a girl that set him up. Another friend had barely survived after being shot up, left living but paralyzed. Seeing all this murder and violence going on around him, it deeply affects him. By the end of his last verse decides he needs to get out while he’s still alive. This city has stooped down so low. It’s a great piece of writing and storytelling. It really gives you a peek into how Sylvan feels and
Outro
While there are many more incredible tracks to be discussed, I’m gonna leave it at that for now. I feel that these two tracks show not just his incredible output on Searching Sylvan, but as an artist overall. If you want to learn more about him, you’re going to have to just go listen to his stuff. Hopefully I’ve convinced you to! (If you do make sure to message me and talk to me about it!)
Following the release of this tape, Sylvan Lacue dropped the “QuESt” name, performing as just Sylvan Lacue from now on. He also dropped Visionary Music group, deciding to just self-release, and founding his own company WiseUpCo. From there he released 2 more albums, “Far From Familiar“, and “Apologies in Advance“. Also, many EPs and singles. His newest single released April of 2023, titled “Distractions” is from his yet-to-be-released album “Nobody’s Coming to Save You”. I hope that you’ll be there to listen to it. You can get updates from sylvanlacue.com. We hope you give his stuff a listen and discover who’s Under 1 million here on The Groove Grounds.
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