For many years Florida rapper Sylvan LaCue went by the name, QuESt. A rap name he adopted at the age of 13. By 2014 the name had become a by-product of Logic's and Chris Zarou's Visionary Music Group (VMG). In 2015 QuESt took a step back and left VMG to begin a clean slate to express himself more authentically as an artist. You can now call him by name, Sylvan LaCue is ready to make a statement.
You might remember QuEST as that rapper who toured with Logic in 2013 on the Welcome To Forever Tour. Back then, he used to rock a nappy high-top cut and spit nothing but raw bars. The name change has allowed him a new sense of ease. Now, he’s the Floridian rapper rocking a do-rag and moving around more relaxed than ever before.
LaCue picked up a loyal fanbase after being in the game since 2009, and with yearly mixtape drops, he began to make a name for himself beyond his day ones. By 2013 he signed to Chris Zarou's Visionary Music Group (VMG), where he released his second to last mixtape Searching Sylvan under.
Due to a change in scenery and differences in management, LaCue left VMG, all in good terms, and went on to create a collective called WiseUp & Co; While releasing two studio albums, Far From Familiar (2016), Apologies in Advanced (2018), and a mixtape called Florida Man (2018).
Between 2018 and 2019, life for LaCue began moving too fast, and his mental health took a nosedive. When Apologies in Advanced dropped in 2018, LaCue started experiencing a lot of success and saw many of his dreams come to fruition, dreams such as being offered a record deal from Roc Nation. Signing to Roc was a lifetime dream of LaCue's as he wanted to sign to Jay Z. He ended up turning down the deal due to the label not catering to his needs as an artist at the time. Around the same time, tragedy struck, and LaCue lost his grandmother.
"By the time 2019 came around I was spent physically and emotionally. A lot of it was figuring out what I needed as a person. On top of that I was experiencing a lot of trauma that stemmed back from my childhood that were no longer serving me," said LaCue. After having a sold-out tour in Europe, he went back home to Florida to find himself and deal with his childhood traumas. Traumas that ranged from being misunderstood to lacking confidence that formed as he was coming up as a child.
Growing up in Florida, LaCue describes it as a paradise with a broken infrastructure between the rich and poor. "In Florida you can be in the hood and you can see money right across the street," said LaCue.
LaCue was brought up in different parts of Florida, where he experienced life in the trap with his father on the weekends and a more or less regular life in North Miami with his mother. "As I grew up I started learning I had to be more responsible. By 15 I was paying bills, by 16 I was living on my own. I learned I had to depend on myself. My father was an addict and my mother's relationship wasn't great. I had to figure this thing out and make the best out of what the situation was," said LaCue.
During LaCue's childhood and teenage years, many traumas were created due to the struggles of his upbringing, he used to fear his based programming was going to determine his reality. "It created hella trauma. I wasn't able to trust people, only sticking to myself and not letting people in because I felt like I was the only person that could figure out what was going on," he said.
As a kid, LaCue always dabbled in any form of expression he could, from writing poetry, short stories, and essays that later turned into writing raps. Growing up, he wasn't able to express himself much. He said, "With my mother you wasn't expressing yourself. We here to do what we gotta do. We gotta pay these bills, wipe them tears."
LaCue used music as therapy throughout his career. In Apologies in Advance, he admits that the project was a vessel to express himself, and it only scratched the surface of everything he was going through at the time.
Between 2019 and 2021, LaCue went on a three-year musical hiatus to find himself and get rid of all that negativity that didn't serve him anymore. By the time this new year rolled around, LaCue took to Twitter to announce the Young Sylvan Trilogy, a trilogy made up out of three separate EP’s numbered by episodes one through three. "I named it Young Sylvan in order to highlight the effects of childhood trauma in my life and putting it to rest," said LaCue.
Young Sylvan Ep. 1 dropped Feb. 19, and although he had announced it to many fans, this came as a pleasant surprise they didn't ever see coming as he had been on a hiatus for three years. A few days later, he dropped his first visual in over three years, "Young Sylvan Back" which made a statement on its own; LaCue made sure to let everyone know that, "nice guys don't finish last we lay low then plan shit." Just this month, he dropped episode two of the Young Sylvan Trilogy.
Moving forward, LaCue wants his independent label Wise Up to serve more than just housing his music. He wants it to be a hub for artists that provides great value assets for up-and-coming musicians.
Regardless of the ups and downs, LaCue is back and doesn't plan on going anywhere this time. He's been healing and is ready to take over the game as an independent artist.
Today LaCue premieres the visuals for “Peter Pan,” a track of Young Sylvan: Episode Two. Stay tuned for the final episode of the trilogy coming soon.