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Q Strange Information
Name: Joshua Fiorello Birthday: July 11, 1976 Hair Color: Brown Eye Color: Blue Height: 6' 3" Weight: 240 Race: Italian Aliases: Q Strange, Q, Mista Jinx, Q Stiggy, Quite Strange More Info: Josh Fiorello, better known as Q Strange, grew up in the city of Providence Rhode Island. He was an only child in a single parent household and had to fend for himself most of his childhood. Since his mother was addicted to drugs, Q was forced to not only look out for himself, but also care for his mom, forcing him to grew up quicker than other children his age. Despite her drug addiction however, he always maintained a close relationship with her. At the age of 9 he spent time in a pediatric mental hospital when teachers found out he was not paying attention in class, but instead he spent most of his time in class making disturbing drawings full of violence and gore. Due to all of these conditions, Q Strange never really felt like he fit in anywhere with people his own age, so Q grew up an outcast. As he aged, Q began to skip school, he did not feel like going to a place where he does not fit in and cannot do the work, so he began to fall in love with music, rap in particular. By the age of 13 he began to actually write verses to songs during class time. This caused him to fall behind on school work, and forced him to move to different schools. This only further reinforced the "outcast" mindset that Q was developing, since he never really stayed at any school long enough to make friends. No longer caring for school at all, Q began to seriously consider rap as a career. After working on several songs, Q decided to try to record these songs and see what happens. So, he recorded his first demo at the age of 14 and knew at that moment that this was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. At the young age of 16 Q lost all he had in life and was forced to support himself when his mother passed away due to a drug overdose. He now faced poverty and was virtually homeless. His only tool of survival was the assistance given to him by family friends. Also in order to fend for himself, Q began to get arrested for burgarly and assault all before the age of 18. At the age of 18, he hooked up with a local hip hop group known as "3rd Floor Productions". His friendship with DJ JD from the group, would be one that would ultimately change his direction in life. Q Strange joined the group, taking up the alias of Mista Jinx. DJ JD assisted Q with anything he needed in terms of musical assistance; he provided Q with beats for songs, and he even taught Q how to produce his own beats as well. Q began to record full length songs with the group, and he was also given the opportunity to release several solo projects as well. The group eventually broke up in 1997, forcing Q to once again stand alone. Q decided to take a break from creating music and try to find work to help pay the bills. After several months away from the music scene, he decided to attempt a new approach on his music, using his life's pain as fuel for lyrics, and thus Q Strange was born. He began to write lyrics for a new song, lyrics that were gruesome, dark, and violent. The song was entitled "Murder Kill". He recorded Murder Kill in 1997 and locally released the song as part of a short bootleg demo to get his name out there. As word of mouth spread, some fans in the midwest dedicated a website to Q Strange in order to help spread the word of this new MC. Trying to follow the success of his first release demo tape, Q Strange began to work on another horrorcore style album. The album was entitled "Decayed Thoughts" and it was released in 1999. The album was pretty much a rough draft/early demo version of his next album, "Creation To ExeQtion". Using the money he received from the sales of "Decayed Thoughts", Q Strange bought better recording equipment and began to make better beats, in order to give his newest album a professional feel to it. So, his first professional album "Creation To ExeQtion", was released in 2000. The idea was to release an album that followed the complete life of a serial killer, from creation to his execution at the end of the album, almost like a horror film. This album did extremely well, and soon Q even received legendary status. People began to compare him to Mastamind of NATAS in terms of lyrical skills in the horrorcore genre. As a result, Q decided to release a follow up album called "Strangeland". This album brought the murderous style that his fans had come to know by now, but also balanced out with more "traditional" hip-hop songs and emotional tracks proving that there was more to Q Strange than just a gimmick. Both albums moved thousands of units with no distribution outside of mail order and consignment deals with various merchants, and was widely bootlegged all over the world. Record labels began to develop interest in signing this new phenomenom. In late 2004 Q Strange inked a deal with Mad Insanity Records (Mars' independent record label). Mad Insanity re-released the first two albums with proper distribution and re-mastering, making the discs easier for fans to find, and with a better overall sound quality. Mad Insanity Records also gave Q promotion and his own merchandise. Also, in 2004, Q Strange began to perform nationwide. During these performances, Q passed out free CDs to everyone in attendance. These "bootlegs" included: Happy Horrordayz, New and Rare Shit, Butchered Blendz, and Cutting Room Floor. All of these free albums were burnt onto CD-RWs and did not feature any cover art with the album either. In 2007, Q released his first "new" album off of Mad Insanity Records, "Rare Cuts". "Rare Cuts" is a "best of" album with a few brand new tracks added to it. Most of the tracks on this album were only featured on the bootleg albums that Q gave away, so many people missed out on hearing these tracks. So Q decided to press an album that fans could purchase in case they missed their chance at copping these hot tracks. Q Strange's fanbase continues to grow and he is amongst the status of legendary in the horrorcore genre despite the amount of years he's been in it. He performs live shows with 100% of his energy, making sure his fans get exactly what they want, and he continues to drop fresh albums all the time. He has proven that horrorcore MCs are the next big thing and that they aren't going anywhere. He has opened for ICP, and has been invited to play at the anual Gathering of the Juggalos. Each year his fanbase continues to grow, pushing him even further up the ladder of "horrorcore legend". Who knows what the future holds for Q Strange! |
