Question
San Antonio, Texas, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2014 | INDIE
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The Tumblr site for rapper Question? is unambiguous: questionisdead.tumblr.com.
To paraphrase Mark Twain, the rumors of Question?'s death have been greatly exaggerated.
“I'm not done making music, but I don't have delusions now about being a superstar,” Question? said. “And I'm not done being involved in music, be it as a rapper or as a producer. I had more success than others, but, look, I'm not curing cancer. I'm making music. I'm doing something I love, and I put in my 10,000 hours doing what I love.”
For Question? — born Daniel Boskind in San Antonio 33 years ago — putting in the 10,000 hours looked like it was going to pay off in a big way. In 2007, the gifted free-
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style rapper with writing and studio chops — and street cred to go along with them — signed to Epic Records and Cinematic Music Group.
Despite the success of his songs “Dance Like a White Boy” and “Ridin Slow,” performed with Bun B and Sean Kingston, no album was released. There was a top management change at Epic, the label folded its urban music division, and it took legal wrangling to get Question? out of his record contract.
“I got what I thought was my release, but they were gonna keep my name and all my music,” he said. “I had $30,000 left over from my advance and spent it on my lawyer. I couldn't work for 11 months. Eleven months in hip-hop is forever.”
Question? got his nickname from his grandfather.
“I asked a lot of questions. I was that kid who asked, 'Why is the sky blue?'” he said, laughing.
But Question? is good at finding answers to his queries.
“I guess you could say I grew up tough, but, to me, it didn't seem that tough because I grew up around people who cared about me,” he said. “My father was a heroin addict. He was in and out of prison. But I can always see somebody who has it worse.
“I have two boys, one 14, one 7. I tell them they can make excuses, but, in the end, you're responsible for your choices. Now I have a pretty good relationship with my dad. I told him he taught me a lot by not being there.”
Question? said he used music as a survival method.
“I grew up in Hispanic and black neighborhoods. Hip-hop was the universal language. I had to be good at it if I was going to do it,” he said. “I also grew up on classic rock. My mom was a fan of classic rock, blues and jazz. I was good at battle rapping. When I was 17, I was offered a record deal that never materialized.”
Question? enlisted in the Air Force. When he got out in 2001, he used the GI Bill to attend the Los Angeles Recording School, where he earned a bachelor's degree in audio science.
“I got out of the Air Force a week and a half before 9/11 and moved to Los Angeles on Sept. 10,” he said. “I learned from the ordeal of almost getting a deal that I want to be involved with music. I wanted to learn to mix, to master, to produce. I did an internship with Raphael Saadiq. I got my feet wet and I met a lot of people.”
In '03, Question? returned to San Antonio, got a job at, and lived in, Motion Sonic recording studio.
“I met Charles (Charles “Easy Lee” Peters) from Mojoe. Mojoe came to the studio to record and blew me away. I wanted to manage them,” he said.
So it was back to Los Angeles for Question?, this time with Mojoe, trying to get the hip-hop/soul group signed. Along the way, Question? did some recording in Los Angeles, came back to San Antonio with his music, and put it out for free.
“The CD was 'I Am Question.' I pressed 10,000 copies and gave 'em all away. That started my reputation,” he said. “People thought I was crazy, but my theory was I could give away 1,000 CDs before I could sell 50. A lot of people became familiar with me.”
Question? became the subject of a bidding war. He took the Epic deal because there was more money involved.
“In hindsight, I should have gone with another label because Epic had no hip-hop,” he said. “I take some of the blame. Before I got signed, I worked my ass off, but I got lazy after I signed a deal. I expected them to do a lot more work for me. ”
At the end of 2010, Question? released the album “Xanax 3.” It sold well despite the complete lack of a budget. In 2011, Question? started working with a band, DeadBroke. He has a solo album and a band album in the works.
“I describe my music as conscious street music,” he said. “I try not to be too negative. I pride myself in telling stories. Something in me wants to keep working. It's like therapy. I love working with a band. There's different energy, and it reignited something in me. I bought a house with my label advance. When I'm not working, it's hard to keep the lights on.”
Question? got a day job.
“When I lost my deal, I got a job at the Apple Store,” he said. Everybody there knew me. It was humbling.
“After orientation, people came up to me asking for autographs,” he added, laughing. “One of the things I got from Epic was a recording studio. I convinced them to build me a studio, and the equipment was all Apple and Mac. Now I work from home and do Apple tech support over chat.”
When other rappers and hip-hop purveyors come to Question? for advice, he offers it freely.
“There are a lot of talented people here, but there's not the infrastructure here,” he said. “I tell people they have to get out of town and perform for other people in other places.
“Hip-hop is like fast food. When I was a kid I went to the record store every day. Records were to listen to and cherish. Now there's new content every day. Everyone sees hip-hop as an easy way to get a buck. It's not like that. A record deal is not a way to get rich. It's not how big you dream, you have to have other people believe in your dream like it's their own.” - San Antonio express News
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
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Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
“I am no longer afraid of becoming lost, because the journey back always reveals something new, and that is ultimately good for the artist.”
? Billy Joel
For San Antonio, Texas based hip hop artist Question, these words hold very true. In the fall of 2005, Question found himself in the Beverly Hills, California high rise condo of then up and coming Super Producer Jonathan “J.R” Rotem recording song after song, laying the foundation for what ultimately would be a roller coaster of a professional music career.
“I was in awe. Here i am this kid from Texas, that no one really had heard of and I'm sitting in the studio with another kid who had worked on records with Snoop and Dr. Dre not even a week prior..it was surreal. And even though those sessions didn't lead to stardom or huge success, to me they were monumental life changing events that inspired me to push myself even harder”. Question had been living in Los Angeles on and off for nearly a year before the chance meeting with industry vet Zach Katz and Dr. Dre prodigy J.R Rotem took place, and his name quickly became the buzz commodity in the music industry within months of recording over 40 songs to J.R’s triumphant ( and highly in-demand) signature productions.
Katz decided he believed the music that Question and Rotem were creating was good enough to land a record deal and began making phone calls to industry managers hoping to procure strong willed representation for the artist before they signed Question to there new production company. Katz setup a meeting between Question and Jon “Jonny Shipes” Shapiro, who’s new management company Cinematic Music Group was already making huge waves in the east coast hip hop scene. Shipes listened to the music and was convinced Question was someone he definitely wanted to manage and flew Question to New york City immediately in December of 2005. Within a day of hanging out, Question knew Shipes was the perfect manager for him and agreed to have Cinematic represent him professionally.
Shipes decided that Question needed to leave Los Angeles and return home to San Antonio and focus on building up his local support before they made a push to the record labels. Question put together a mixtape primarily made up of all original material that he had worked on with Rotem, and in March of 2006, he released his debut “I Am Question”. A project that Question invested $9,000 of his own money in to, then shockingly gave away 10,000 copies away of, for free. “In my mind, i was a new artist that no one in my region really new about, so i figured that i could give away 1,000 copies before i could sell 10. It worked. I covered my friend’s Suburban with a promo vehicle wrap and rode all over Texas giving those Cd’s out. Within months everyone knew who i was.” Shipes and Katz were both impressed at the artist’s initiative and drive and quickly began devising a plan to create a larger regional buzz that reached across multiple states. Question soon began popping up on countless nationwide DJ Mixtape series such as Big Mike, Evil Empire, DJ Clue, DJ Green Lantern, DJ CHUCK T, DJ Scream, Trapaholics,and more, with notable freestyles and original songs that garnered significant underground notoriety. His buzz began to grow even larger and Shipes decided to bring in radio promo vet J Grand in to the fold to help find a radio single to push, not knowing that Question already had one.
“Ridin’ Slow” was a song that Question helped co-write the chorus on with then unknown pop singer Sean Kingston. Rotem asked Question to assist on writing hooks for tracks that he wanted to present to fellow texas native and Swishahouse alum Paul Wall, and felt Question could add the Texas feel, lingo, and perspective to the hooks Kingston was laying. But after the songs were presented and turned down, Question knew that he could make the song all his own and recorded two verses to it and asked local underground rapper Kyle Lee of 3rd degree to guest feature on it. The song instantly gained popularity with DJ’s in Texas and even local and regional radio began playing the record without any real push outside of word of mouth. The song organically began to grow and J Grand knew it was time to seize the opportunity and reached out to Texas hip hop pioneer Bun B (of UGK), and added him to the remix and quickly the song was in mix show rotation on over 30 stations nationwide. (Including a very Popular “West Coast remix” featuring Nipsey Hussle)
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