International Quincy: Diddy’s Son Grabs the Mic [Family Ties]

Most aspiring rappers would kill to be down with Sean “Diddy” Combs. But having been raised by the legendary Bad Boy Records mogul for the majority of his 19 years, Quincy Brown, a.k.a. International Quincy, is instead trying to step out of Mr. Combs’s shadow and into a spotlight all his own.

The biological son of 1980s R&B star Al B. Sure! and supermodel Kim Porter, Quincy has called his mom’s on-off boyfriend Puff “daddy” since he was three. While growing up with his mother in Columbus, Georgia, the Southern stunna dreamed of a career as an actor. Quincy got his first taste of the spotlight on MTV’s My Super Sweet 16, when he debuted his first record “Da Fly Way,” a collabo with then Bad Boy artist Yung Joc, at his extravagant birthday party. “I went in there [having] never really laid nothin’ professionally down in an actual studio before,” says Quincy of the track. “That gave me a little tease of what this is all about.”

Soon after, rap aspirations replaced Hollywood ones. Q spent the next two years working to perfect his craft, before releasing his first mixtape, Nothing Special, online earlier this year to mixed reviews. “Some people loved it; some people [didn’t],” Q says of the response to his collection of synthesizer-backed rhymes and Auto-Tuned harmonies. “Of course, a lot of people say, ‘You only doin’ this ’cause you Puffy’s son.’ But that’s just my whole journey right now.”

That journey is to disprove those who may consider IQ’s success a by-product of nepotism. To his credit, though, Quincy isn’t trying to use their relationship as a shortcut to the top. “I don’t really ask him for much help, because I know how much of an easy outlet that is,” says the Los Angeles–based MC. “I’m just pretty much doin’ everything on my own.”

For now, that means releasing songs and videos on his website (internationalquincy.com) and mastering the art of storytelling with a very important fan watching his every move. “[Diddy] don’t want nothin’ but the best of the best bein’ done, so I got a lot of pressure,” says Quincy. “But pressure’s a great thing.”

Daddy didn’t raise no fool. —Calvin Stovall

INTERNATIONAL QUINCY “ANGELS FREESTYLE”
[Audio://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2010/11/02-angels-freestyle.mp3]

INTERNATIONAL QUINCY “THANK YOU!”
[Audio://townsquare.media/site/812/files/2010/11/12-thank-you-1.mp3]

INTERNATIONAL QUINCY “WORDS FROM ME”