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Enter the Song: How Music Saved [and Inspires] Rapper Stickz Greenz By Mi chae l J . Pa l l e r i no
E very word came out with a stutter. And there was nothing that Tony Quarless could do about it. At 5 years old, the world can be a daunting place when it is hard to communicate. His speech impediment was so severe that his parents lovingly called him “Bubah.” An admittedly stubborn child, Tony says he would try to lead off all of the points he wanted to make with the word “but.” Unfortunately, the phrasing came out “bu-bu…” Hence the nickname. Music changed all of that. The young man who would later become a renowned rapper and singer/songwriter is not quite sure when the transformation happened, but when he sang, he did not stutter. It was a godsend. Submerging himself in a musical world of reggae, R&B, rap, and rock, the inspiration was transcendental. At age 7, Tony began writing and performing his own music. Around the time he turned 12, he began battle rapping on the streets of Brooklyn. He never lost. As his stature grew, he started to become a recognizable force on the local rap scene. But the culturally diverse and extremely volatile streets of Crown Heights had its dark side. There was too much pain and anguish, too much loss. Quarless watched lots of family and friends die. With one eye on minor celebrity status and the other on being a kid, his parents’ strict rules and regulations started to get to him. They wanted to move him in a direction he was not interested in going. So, at 16 Tony Quarless did the only thing he could do—he set out on his own. “I took many risks and ventured out into the world at a very early age,” he recalls. “I didn’t want to be subjected to any more punishments or have to do what I was told. I was in love with music.” His passion led him down some dark roads. Living in an abandoned apartment left to a childhood friend whose family had moved, Tony was able to evade the deadbolt lock the landlord put on the door and sneak in through a back window. To make ends meet, he would occasionally rob people, quickly garnering the reputation as the “Stick-up Kid” or “Stickz,” as he became known. The second part of what would become his professional name, “Greenz”, in case you are wondering, came from all of the weed he smoked.
And thus the Stickz Greenz legend was born. But as Stickz freely admits, the life of a stick-up artist can only get you so far. A year after giving the homeless life a try, he moved in with his aunt and uncle in Canarsie, another part of Brooklyn. Sneaking into colleges masquerading as a student, he started racking up rap battle victories, eventually scoring his first check for $500 at an event sponsored by Toyota. On a trip to a recording studio with then girlfriend Jeannie Ortega (who went on to sign a recording contract with Disney), Stickz was blown away by the recording process.
He eventually ended up in Atlanta with his uncle, where he met Grammy award-winning producer She’kspere, who set up a meeting. “I killed it,” Stickz recalls. “I got to hang out with She’kspere at his $3 million studio and record. It was a [expletive] blast. The Atlanta music scene is driven by the streets and strip clubs, which was all new to me. New York doesn’t have the type of culture. The streets here are very different. It is still very intriguing to me.” These days, Stickz spends his time bouncing between Atlanta, New York, and California. But it is Atlanta that
draws the most inspiration. “I spend a lot of time in the underground scene on Edgewood Avenue and Ponce De Leon. This world is full of young artists, music, fashion, and fine arts. I love it here and they love me.” At 30, and still moving up in the professional music game, Stickz is working to establish himself as an artist. You can find him performing at various musical festivals, parties, and gatherings around the city— with the passion of the music still driving him forward. “At heart, my music is about being yourself, un- apologetically,” he says. “It is my belief that too many people live under the assumption that you have to live by a societal structure. Everyone should be who they are, not who they think someone wants them to be. That’s [expletive]. The best advice I ever received was from my father, who said, ‘Do the right thing.’ While he was never specific about what that ‘thing’ was, I get the point. I do everything to the best of my ability.” And as long as Stickz has his music, that will never change.
Stickz Greenz
Everyone should be who they are, not who they think someone wants them to be.
Photography by Colin Campbell
@stickzgreenz
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