Gilbert Bani (born August 1, 1986), popularly known by his stage name A-Q, is a Nigerian rapper and songwriter. His single "Agu Ji Ndi Men" was nominated for Best Rap Single at The Headies 2016
Early life
Born into a family of six as the last child, A-Q real name Gilbert Bani was raised in Surulere where he has lived for most of his life.
Education
A-Q attended Kings College Lagos and had his tertiary education at the University of Lagos. At a young age, he started collecting hip-hop tracks, learning the lyrics, and miming them. It didn't take long before he started writing his own lyrics.
Music career
A-Q signed his first record deal in 2001 with Big Leaf Records where he was for two years before he started working on his own in 2003. His first single "(W)rap Nigeria", produced by kraftmatics, debuted in 2004 followed by a music video. He subsequently released a full compilation album Listen and Understand in 2005 followed by another single, "Things That We Do", which got him an international online distribution deal. In 2006 A-Q put out a mixtape titled Maga Must Pay vol 1.
A-Q took a break from music to finish his education at the University of Lagos but still managed to release a single, "Make Money", an accompanying video in 2008 produced by Laylow and featuring Morachi and Xtrim off an online mixtape titled Love and Money.
A-Q graduated in 2010 and returned to the entertainment industry, this time co-floating a record label, Hustle Inc, on whose platform he started Black Friday Twitter Freestyles, a weekly free download release. This got him online acknowledgment including from producer Don Jazzy who styled him as “one of the sickest rappers alive”. He recorded and released The Past Present and Future album in December 2010 which had the singles "Names" and "Champagne and Rum". He released more music including "Distractions" featuring Vector in 2012, "Machine Gun Flow", "555 (5beats 5verses and 5blessings)", and "Why" featuring Pamela.
He released an EP in December 2012 titled Make Your Best Rapper Look Stupid. He is currently working on his sophomore album titled G.I.L.B.E.R.T (Grace and Glory).
In 2018, A-Q was part of LAMBAugust, a rap campaign in Nigeria, and released an album with Chocolatecity rapper Loose Kaynon called Crown.
A-Q won Lyricist on the Roll for "Crown" at the 13th edition of The Headies.
He left the Chocolate city record label in 2020 and said “I had a wholesome experience at Chocolate City, and I’m happy to have been part of the label’s journey to profitability”. He went further setting up a music incubator for African artists.
