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Hopping out a minivan, toting a box full of sea moss, Naeem Khaliq, musically known as QP Knockout, rattles off bars highlighting the health benefits of the mineral-filled superfood in the music video for his track “Randy Seamoss.” “Put it in my auntie’s drink, it get her real strong!” he raps before the video cuts to him giving a concocted sea moss drink to his aunties. Cut back to Khaliq. “Really who y’all n*ggas think, I sell sea moss!” he raps.
QP Knockout (QPKO for short) is carving a new lane in D.C.’s rap scene, which has recently been associated with violence. Many of the city’s prominent young rappers make Drill music, a subgenre of hip-hop with lyrical content centered around conflict. They speak about ongoing beefs in the city and taunt rivals who have been hurt or killed during their feuds.
At its best, the music illustrates the D.C. street lifestyle in a raw, authentic way. It’s a vehicle for young people, who often hail from some of the remaining predominantly Black neighborhoods in the city, to express their unfiltered life experiences. But at its worst, Drill can be fuel for an unending cycle of violence. People seek retribution for being dissed, and artists feel obligated to uphold the bloodthirsty image they’ve created for themselves. A recent report from D.C.’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council cites rap music videos as a significant factor escalating feuds between crews and contributing to the scourge of gun violence in the city.
QPKO provides an alternative to this self-destructive loop. His music spreads knowledge and his lyrics stress the importance of holding oneself to a code of honor. He’ll often rap over Michigan-inspired production with thumping 808s and complex melodies, and talk about supporting friends and family. His positive lyricism is rooted in D.C.’s reality.
Tracks like “Small Town” and “Cars and Clothes” are packed with area-specific lingo and references only understood by those familiar with D.C.’s culture. He cites alternative rap artists such as Dom Kennedy, Kendrick Lamar, and Ab-soul as influences.
“A lot of these artists impacted the way that I thought about myself and my transition into [the person] I’ve been becoming for the past 10 years,” he tells City Paper. He wants to do the same thing for the next generation of young Washingtonians. “They might need to hit that road, to figure themselves out. And if [my] music is the fuel to get them to venture out into the world, then my mission is accomplished.”
Khaliq has been involved in D.C.’s music scene for years, working as a manager for local talent before pursuing his own rap career in 2021. “[My peers] always used to tell me that my voice and what I gotta say is important for the folks to hear too,” he explains. Knockout recorded demos for over a year before releasing his debut EP QP KO & The Wizard of Za. He’s released nearly a dozen projects since 2021, and plans to put out an album and short film Nov. 11.
“The project is called Mr. Pay Me. It’s the official soundtrack to the motion picture Mr. Pay Me For My Nose,” Khaliq says. The short film will work as an on-screen intro to the Mr. Pay Me For My Nose character that Knockout has been developing since 2021’s Mr. Pay Me Vol 1., and last year’s Mr. Pay Me For My Nose.
“We got some partners we might [connect] with in the near future to put together a larger project,” he says. The 10-minute short, co-directed by Nadia Stanley, will be released alongside the 14-track album, executively produced by BlockBoy202.
Although music is Khaliq’s primary focus at the moment, he’s been a stalwart of D.C.’s cultural development in nightlife and fashion for over a decade. Hailing from the Kennedy Street NW neighborhood, he’s part of the generation that experienced the city’s major economic and social changes in the 2010s. “When I graduated from high school, it was like the peak moment of equilibrium for the gentrification movement in D.C.,” he says.
Khaliq specifically recognized a shift in the city’s go-go community. “I came out of the bounce beat go-go era,” he recalls, proudly. “I was really knee-deep in it as a young person. From 13, all the way to 18 years old.” By 2012, police crackdowns, and shifting demographics led to the closure of go-go venues Khaliq attended throughout his adolescence.
Adjusting to this new reality, he found a promising business opportunity in throwing house parties. They were initially aimed at college students, but grew into a series of parties throughout D.C. for teenagers and young adults. This created a new social space for Khaliq, his peers, and the city’s younger generation who felt the cultural void from the decline of go-go.
Most of his events took place in mansions, luxury condos, and commercial buildings. Attendees assumed Khaliq’s collective of party-throwers were landlords who owned the spaces, so they embraced the title and shortened it to Lordy.
“It started becoming a title of endearment. [It became] something that we could stand on,” he says. “It’s like a badge of honor if you’re a Lordy, you hear me.” He created a clothing brand under the name around the same time his childhood friend, painter-designer Franklin Thompson, established Rent Is Due in 2014. The Lordy and Rent Is Due brands played off one another, and became staples in D.C. streetwear throughout the mid 2010s. Since the clothing could only be purchased directly through Thompson or Khaliq, only people within the city’s underground nightlife and art scene could acquire their product.
At the end of 2015, Khaliq moved to New York City to embed himself in the fashion industry. He learned how to screen print from artists he connected with in the city, and attended major brand activations. Meeting fashion icons like Virgil Abloh and Heron Preston, Khaliq gained a better understanding of the business models behind their brands.
He returned to D.C. in 2018, starting his brand UUV (the name is an acronym for D.C.’s stolen car law, officially called unauthorized use of a motor vehicle ), a callback to 2009, when, as a young kid, he and some friends from his neighborhood would get into trouble. Khaliq describes it as his “adrenaline activity.”
The UUV clothing brand plays on this concept with designs that make subtle references to D.C.’s Black culture such as an homage to the Twin Dragon Carry-Out on a bomber jacket, or a cartoon design of local emcee Baby 9eno on a sweatshirt. Trucker hats, ski-masks, and mechanic jackets are some of UUV’s most popular pieces, which can be seen on tastemakers throughout the city.
Khaliq also officially expanded UUV into the cannabis industry in 2020. During frequent trips to California in the late 2010s, Khaliq and his friends studied the cannabis cultivation process and developed their own method to produce high quality marijuana. They call their product “The One, Not The Two,” indicating top-tier bud. Thanks to connections they made with West Coast-based distributors, UUV cannabis products are sold through major retailers throughout California.
If that wasn’t enough, Khaliq also founded a studio space for up-and-coming rap artists who showed potential. “The city needed a safe haven for certain artists that were serious about their craft to be able to intimately and privately develop it,” he explains. By the end of 2019, an insular community formed around the multi-room studio tucked away in the Ivy City neighborhood, which prioritized their artists’ wellbeing.
“We got a hot plate in the back, a clean bathroom, a nice couch, you can catch some Zs real quick, you don’t gotta worry about nothing,” he says.
Artists have recorded over 325 songs since the studio opened, including Southeast rap-pioneer Ankhlejohn, and Northeast’s El Cousteau, who was recently brought out to perform his single “Nitro” (also recorded in the studio) during A$AP Rocky’s Rolling Loud Miami set. The studio closed down when the building underwent renovations last year, but the experience inspired Khaliq to pursue his own rap career.
With the album and short film set to release, Khaliq sits at an exciting point in his creative career. Adding ground tobacco, locally known as funnel, to the list of products UUV supplies, the brand is bigger than ever. He’s also established his own record label, Route 1 Records, where he releases all of his music. Stepping out of his normally behind-the-scenes role, Khaliq is now the face of his newest venture, using rap music to educate and inspire the people of his city.
“When you invest into yourself and learn the skills, and then invest into a group of people by telling their story, you benefit from them wanting to buy and support whatever you’re trying to do,” he says.
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