SHREVEPORT, LA – When Marshawn Johnson was little, he often would listen to a song on the radio and wonder who was responsible for the production behind the beats. His best friend, Damarquez Mitchell, was similarly intrigued by music at a young age – first exploring with a Yamaha keyboard his parents got for him as a present. But it wasn’t until the two of them were messing around in the basement of Johnson’s house one day that the notion of pursuing music professionally became a full-fledged reality.
Today the two make up the duo Red Dolla Quez and Marshawn Hitz. Their decade-long collaboration has produced a handful of successful singles and mixtapes, and now they’re ready to release their first EP, which they’re calling “Red River.” It’s a project that they say is named both for the river that flows near their hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana, and for the metaphor represented by that river’s reputation of a strong “angry” current.
“Red River is a very dangerous river that runs throughout city,” Red Dolla Quez said. “It’s just like being on the streets where I’m from. If you jump off into the red river, you aren’t going to make it. The same thing is true with these streets – if you jump into the street life, then 10 times out of 10 you’re going to wind up dead or in jail. It’s a hard life, and this EP is inspired by that.”
Red Dolla Quez describes the EP as a diverse offering of five songs, each of which is based on a different subject with different meanings. One song, for instance, talks about women, while another might connect more with an older demographic and yet another would be perfect for younger generations.
“This EP is about the struggle, but everything you can wrap a topic around I’ve got a song talking about it,” Quez said. “There are songs about being down and out, and there are songs about having it all and shining. There’s just a different variety of subjects, and we’re ultimately trying to pull you up and encourage you to do you – whatever that is.”
The duo’s sound is unlike most music in the hip-hop world today. Marshawn Hitz said that’s because of the multiple influences that both of them bring to the table while they’re in the studio recording.
“It could be jazz, it could be rock, it could be R&B or country or pop,” Marshawn Hitz said. “Whatever sounds good, we love it. For me, beat-making is really what makes me tick. When I’m stressed out, that’s what I go to. That’s what I rely on and it has become a passion for me. I like different types of beats and we’re both listening to different people in the industry trying to be inspired by different things. When we get in the studio, we’ll just go off the vibe of whatever mood we’re in and that’s the type of beat I’ll come up with and he’ll come up with the hit song from that.”
Quez said it’s the perfect pairing of super producer and super artist. And at the end of the day he said the music is an outpouring of their friendship.
“Music is my passion,” Quez said. “And we’ve both been doing it for a long time. And out of the seven days of the week, we’re probably around each other at least five days. The friendship was there before we started on the music, but once we did start on it we locked in and kept getting stronger and stronger. It seems like we’re always at his house every day – he’s cooking up the beats and I’m coming up with beats and verses and it’s a style that is all our own. It’s a unique style and flow that I know people will be excited to hear.”
Twitter @reddollaquez
