FreeStyle Fam

FreeStyle Fam is the born efforts of two MC's: Quest The Wordsmith & Mike Testa. The story starts long before the Fam was conceived.

QUEST THE WORDSMITH
Born in Queens NY but raised in Staten Island, Quest The Wordsmith's first memorable encounter with rap music was "It Takes Two" by Robb Bass. Soon to follow were the mesmerizing sounds of Public Enemy, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest. This captivating sound provided the identity that resonated in his mind: there was nothing better than the art of expression through the means of rap over tight drums, funk & jazz samples, with a captivating sense of freedom. In the eighth grade he received a Korg professional keyboard as a graduation present, and thus began the journey into Hip-Hop production.

In '96 Quest started rhyming, banging beats out on garbage cans at the mall, and freestyling with friends to impress the ladies. But one year later brought the biggest change of his life: 1997 was the year he met God. The Hip-Hop grew...

From winning both 3rd place in the national John Lennon Song Writing Contest's Rap category to numerous showcases around NYC, Quest was on a mission to tear down the status quo, express what he knew to be true, and make plain old good music through the Hip-Hop medium. His main expression came through the art of Freestyle - something more and more scarce these days. freestyle remains Quest's specialty.

Quest's vision was always to have a team of like-minded artists moving forward. That vision gave birth to 2 prior endeavors: Raw Tribe and Slideback Entertainment. Having moved on from those with valuable lessons learned, the vision has finally come to fruition through The FreeStyle Fam. The Fam was really the efforts of two individuals (great friends) having the same passions aimed at the same area of life: Hip-Hop culture. Covenanting with Mike, another Staten Island native, 2008 saw the beginning of the movement called The FreeStyle Fam.

MIKE TESTA
Born in Brooklyn but raised in Staten Island, Mike was exposed to hip hop at a young age but didn't pick up the craft until the age of 19. His Inspirations ranged from underground MC's to artists involved in the mainstream media. Mike grew up in the church but slowly drifted from God in his high school years. At the age of 18 he rededicated his life to Christ and decided to use the microphone as a weapon and tool in establishing change in the rap game. Hip hop became a vital role in his life as well as a way of expressing himself.

Mike and Quest were close friends who partnered up and chose to use hip-hop as a key to transforming the culture and mainstream media. Freestyle Fam redefines the term family as a tight knit, like minded unit in relation pursuing their musical passions to affect change in the game.