Taquari “TQ” Hatch, 27 Lil Boosie’s older brother Personal Management What are your job responsibilities? I handle bookings, regular management duties, scheduling, and basically making sure he gets shit done. I’m also sort of like a financial advisor. With the money he makes, I show him how to spend it right. I’m helping him get his portfolio right and make wise business investments. I’m really proud of where he’s going and how his business mind is developing. He just closed on his first home today, a half-a-million-dollar home. For the first time, he stopped buying cars – so now we’re about to start buying homes. What were you doing before you started working with your brother? I graduated from Southern University in the spring of 2006 with a Bachelors Degree in Business Marketing. Instead of just taking a white-collar job, I decided to get more involved with my brother because I saw he was serious about [rap]. I feel like he just got serious about it two years ago. How has your degree helped you in the music business – do you think the college courses were relevant to the reality of your job? I think it’s very relevant in terms of building business relationships, knowing how to deal with people on the business side, and as far as marketing is concerned, just knowing who your target market is and coming up with a product for each of them. That’s how school helped me. I did a lot of things in college too; I did graphic design as my side hustle and I was involved with party promotions in the city, mainly through my fraternity.
Brandon “Yung B” Kindle Bun B’s stepson Rapper / Promoter What would you be doing if weren’t involved with Bun B? I probably wouldn’t be involved with music. Seeing him is what influenced me. I saw what he went through to create his career. I saw the amount of work it took and everything that you needed to do to be successful. If not for that I would probably still be involved in sports. When did you realize your father was a star? When I would turn on the radio and he was on everybody’s song, or when I started seeing him in everybody’s video. That was when they were going through their problems with Jive. I just saw everyone wanting him to be on their songs all of a sudden. Do you have a favorite tour memory? The first time I got to travel with him. Just getting to see what goes on in terms of putting together a tour and everything. Does Bun give you a lot of creative input on your music? It’s a lot of stuff that he hasn’t heard because I want to make sure it’s perfect before I bring it to him. I mean, he’s not gonna tell me something is jamming when it’s really not. I brought him a track one time and he was just like, “Nah, it’s not you. Keep grindin’.”
In one of his records, Boosie says he “shoulda took the good route like my brother.” What do you think he meant by that? Are you known as the cleancut, well-behaved brother? I’m just a well-rounded businessman from the hood. I feel that everybody’s supposed to make a change from doing the regular bad shit that you grew up doing in the hood. Everybody’s supposed to grow and find a natural maturity and make a natural change, but everybody doesn’t snap out of the ways of the hood. I took the good route. I snapped out at the right age and the right time. The biggest difference between me and Boosie was that we went to different middle schools. He went to the baddest school [in Baton Rouge] because he was good at basketball, and I went to a magnet school because that’s where my mama wanted me to go. I got to see different stuff and met people who were interested in stuff other than the ‘hood. That made it cool for me [to go to college] and take a different route. Who would win in a fight? We used to have physical fights all the time. Boosie stabbed me in the hand one time when we were fighting and I had to get stitches. I got stitches in my right arm one time when I tried to punch him and my hand went through the window. We used to fight all the time growing up but I guess once both of us accepted each others’ roles, that’s when we started to get along and respect each other’s lifestyles. I’ve gotten at least 60 stitches [because of Boosie]. At what point did you realize that your brother was going to be a star? When I first heard him on that “Do It Big” remix, that was the first time I realized he was meant to be nationwide and not just for our ‘hood. When he first started talkin’ about rappin’, he used to have this old tape recorder we got from my mama’s school. He’d do his raps and I’d be like, “I don’t wanna hear that shit.” He’d follow me in my room tryin’ to make me hear his shit. (laughs) But we used to always like performing, me and him and our cousins. When Jodeci was out we’d always sing Jodeci songs, like “Come And Talk To Me.”
Who would win in a fight? He’d probably get me. He can still get me. //
Have you had any crazy experiences being on the road with Boosie? It’s always funny to see the groupies lining up in the hallway; they’ll just line up and wait on him. I just remind him to always remember where home is at. //
Words: Devaughn Douglas // Photo: Intl K
Words and Photo: Julia Beverly
54 // OZONE MAG