Quentin Chandler Cuff
Tour Manager, EarthGang
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In this edition of Required Reading — an online zine designed for you to download and apply to your career — Quentin Cuff uncovers what it was like to be initiated into the industry as a teenager. Revealing personal stories and unheard perspectives, he explains how relying on instincts and making in-the-moment decisions resulted in 10+ years of success, friendships, and lessons.
“Innerview Q”
When I was 16, I attended a journalism camp called the Frank Bolden Urban Journalism Workshop. I didn't think about working in music until I started writing for my high school paper and doing the morning announcements. That's when I started wanting to work in media. Then from wanting to work in media, I wanted to focus on sports or music.
I looked at what Elliott Wilson was doing with Rap Radar at the time and I followed their model, and I did it on whatever scale was available to me. I was lucky to get gigs with DJ Booth at the time. That's how I met Barry [Johnson] and Zeke [Nicholson] from SinceThe80s. I went to high school with Zeke but he introduced me to Barry because I was doing interviews. That's how I got my nickname, “Interview Q” because Barry nicknamed me. For me, it was about doing something that I loved, no matter if it was successful or not. Eventually, some recognition came.
Becoming more than a journalist
Mac [Miller] wanted me to interview him when we first met, and I think that's how we became friends. Eventually, he started letting me come to his house and hang out with Jimmy [Murton], TreeJay, and other people who were his friends at the time, and they welcomed me into their friend group.
At that time, Mac was in a group called The Ill Spoken. He was going under the moniker Easy Mac. One day, his mom set him up to talk to some lady. I forgot what label she worked at. She wasn't trying to sign him but she just gave him advice. He came back and he was talking about search engine optimization and shit that I didn't understand.
Then he changed his name to Mac Miller, and he said “I want you to be a part of my team, and I want to release mixtapes.” I was lucky to learn and help be a part of that process.
Homies handling business together
I had friends, but I never had a friend group that I was as close to as Mac, Jimmy, TreeJay and a lot of those guys. I felt like I was gravitating towards like-minded individuals, and I felt as though I was respected in the group to handle certain things. That was an honor for me.
I had a purpose, and the more that I was going towards that feeling of having a purpose, the better I felt, and the more that I felt like I was gaining a career rather than just being a homie.
I went through a bunch of stages. Now I'm a tour manager with EarthGang, but I tour managed Mac’s first 30-something shows. I was a hype man for him on stage for about five years. Aside from that, I don't take credit because Mac is the goat that he is. But [I helped with] small things like, [the song] “Donald Trump” and setting him up with [the producer] Sap, who was someone that we wanted to link him with because we heard the song “In My Bag” by Meek Mill, which he produced.
At 19, I'm not thinking “Hey, I A&R’d a platinum song.” Those are just things that just happened.
The music industry is what you make it
I genuinely can say I didn't have any expectations [of what the music industry would be like]. I was kind of thrust into those situations at a pretty young age, and I made a lot of mistakes because of that.
I did not expect the music industry to be what it is, but what I can say is that it is what you make it. I know people who are down and out, who aren't lauded by the industry anymore and are very bitter about it. I know people who aren't in music anymore but are still very fond of it. I know people who are killing it currently that they just take it for what it is.
[Your perspective should be] can you help make your family money? Even if you help an artist make $100,000 in a year, do you know how big of a win it is to be able to not have to work a job because of music? That's a blessing. I think things like that are what I didn't expect.
[Some people] think you have to make $50 million to be successful when that's not the goal for 90% of artists and management teams.
Communicate, even if you’re letting someone down
Email is everything. When you're younger, if you can articulate yourself properly over emails, you'll seem light years ahead of everyone else. When I was sending emails when I was young, I was very brash and [sent them] very much like I'm texting. That's something that always haunts me.
My advice is just never get too high or get too low. I think that's a mistake that I made. During the time before we were going to sign with Warner, I had so many people calling my phone that I kind of got overwhelmed. I feel like I burnt some bridges during that time because everyone wanted [Mac]. It's about getting back to people, even if it's a no.
You might be up and everyone's calling your phone, but just make sure that your communication is on point because you never know. In five years, I may have needed someone. Luckily, I have a great support system of friends and opportunities around me, but you never know when that well is going to run dry.
It's important to always manicure those relationships, whether you're giving someone a yes or a no and just making sure that they know that the offer is appreciated.
Eggs in multiple baskets
I'm on the business development team at Blazy Susan. That's a company that I'm putting a lot of my energy into. I work with Trey Deck, who's the director of business development over there. Also, shout out to Will Breckel, the CEO. We're a small company, but we just got added to Fast Company's top hundred fastest-growing companies in Colorado. It's an exciting time for the cannabis industry, and I feel like Blazy Susan is blazing a trail for it.
I'm not looking to take on many more tour management clients [other than EarthGang]. Those are like brothers to me. I'm very selective about tour management clients because that's a lot of time spent with people that I may not know.
I want to first and foremost shout out some of the great tour managers that I know. KC Saney (J. Cole), Tony Moore, Elise Letavish (Mac Miller). I love Jamil [Davis]. Jamil was Drake's tour manager for a while. Tour management is one of the more grueling jobs in the music industry. I'm not the best tour manager. I'm not a super tour manager. I think that there are super tour managers out there, like the people that I just mentioned that have multiple clients and have done tens of dozens of arena tours.
It's a special job because it requires a lot of hands-on work and you have to kind of be a people person, but then you also kind of have to be a dickhead at the same time. It's interesting.
“I don’t think I’ve peaked yet”
I don't know when my biggest win is going to come, but it hasn't come yet. I view my career thus far as successful, but I don't think that I've peaked yet. When I was younger, I thought that I would have peaked by now, or I thought that I would have experienced the peak of my success.
I got to view Mac’s journey of ups and downs in his career, and now I'm seeing what Barry and Zeke are doing in the management field. I have to take all that knowledge and figure out even now, what's next. There's no time limit on when you think that your greatest work will happen.
