For Cargo Qell, the name might seem strange, but there’s more than meets the eye to this rising hip hop star from Wilmington, North Carolina. Marquell Herd-Burnett grew up listening to his mom’s R&B vocals, so it was only natural that he gravitated towards music as an adult too. His mother’s singing skills inspired him to get into music at the tender age of nine.
Part I – The Start
By the time he was nine years old, she introduced him to the joys of songwriting. Simultaneously, he would be in the process of moving to New York City, the birthplace of hip-hop. Naturally fitting in finding a group of friends who had similar passions and together, they made their art. He started rapping under the pseudonym ”Qell” individually, or “Morrison” which is a duo he and his childhood friend Denim Davis created. Stating, “Qell has always been apart of my name, I added “Cargo” playing on Denim name for the love of fashion also it’s like i’m bringing goods to the masses”.
Part II – Building Momentum
Cargo Qell didn’t become well-known until 2018–19, when he was given the opportunity to play previously unheard songs at the storied SOB’s. After receiving positive feedback about his unpublished music, he went on to release his debut single, Rip Current, in December 2020 on all platforms. This song featured Brooklyn, New York native Dillon Cooper and truly showcased his lyrics to a larger audience. He discovered that he had a larger following than he had anticipated who fell in love with his perseverance, realism, and capacity to blend the south and the north. With the pandemic slowing things down, in order to develop possible tunes, he trained himself how to record using Logic Pro X. Eventually taking the demos to studios creating two mixtapes at once.
Part III – On his way to stardom with new music
The major voyage begins at this point. The first project was his debut EP “Touchin Base B.ased O.n A. T.rue Soul,” which was released on February 28, 2022, and produced completely by Basedmatic, a producer from New York City, NY. 90% of the second project was engineered by legendary producer V Don, who owns serious soundz, the facility where it was recorded. The lone production on the disc, Dpolo, will feature seven tracks releasing in late 2022.
His debut was a forerunner of his diversity because it touched on various genres and sounds, starting with a sample from the 1980s pop band The Cool Notes in the song Parked up from the EP. It’s also interesting to note that John Seymour, the proprietor of Sweetchick, makes an appearance in the music video.
His New track St. prod. by Streeta G releasing 9/22/22 distributed by EQDistro is giving people high expectations for his future releases. The new single should be very much anticipated. Stay tuned! He has been generating enough buzz to get him noticed.
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