Fayetteville rapper turns passion into positive energy

Rakeem “Keem” Jones
·3 min read
Passion Quarles, who is 23, raps under the nickname YNG Thumpa. She recently performed at the Crown Coliseum alongside national recording artist Kodak Black on the Fayetteville stop of his Super Gremlin Tour.
Passion Quarles, who is 23, raps under the nickname YNG Thumpa. She recently performed at the Crown Coliseum alongside national recording artist Kodak Black on the Fayetteville stop of his Super Gremlin Tour.

“Supposed to be relaxing, but this passion makes it impossible,” raps J.Cole on his Heaven's EP Freestyle over Drake’s hit song “Pipe Down.”

Passion is often described or portrayed as a strong, barely controllable emotion. Passion drives people to achieve great things. However, passion can cause people to act out of character. In either scenario, passion creates a driving force that will help one move forward — or can hinder necessary growth.

Rakeem Jones
Rakeem Jones

Passion Quarles, a 23-year-old rapper from Fayetteville, has experienced many of life’s trials and tribulations. Born in Salisbury, North Carolina, she is one of 11 children born to Santressa Culbertson. Culbertson and her children relocated to Fayetteville after a brief time in Winston-Salem.

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Santressa took on a job as a nurse, which allowed Passion the freedom to explore. She “jumped off the porch early” as she describes her childhood. During her exploration of life, Quarles developed an affinity for fighting. Among her peers, she became known as “Thumpa.”

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However, her life changed when the violent situations started to cost her friends. In addition, she would learn that she was pregnant with a little girl. By this point, she had been pursuing music and working a job to support her child.

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The death of her cousin, Dre, would prompt Quarles to pursue music full time, after recording a song and filming a video with Dre’s friends. She assumed the rap moniker “Thumpa 4x.” She recorded songs in a friend's basement and released them on digital distribution platform, Distrokid.

Her talent was evident to all those who encountered her.

Passion’s aunt, the late stylist Aaliyah Qaadir, believed in her niece so much that she spoke highly of Quarles to a friend that worked on music videos. That friend was Reginald Denton, a content creator andowner of Chieftexx Studios. Reginald had been working with an artist who was looking to create a label imprint and who was looking to sign artists.

Winston Fox was rapping under the name “LGrammy,” dropping songs like “Extra,” “Redemption,” and “Up Early.” However, Grammy wanted to transition to an executive role. He was already the founder of Arena Muzik Group LLC, or AMG, but enlisted the help of audio engineer and owner of 1303 Studios Corondo Calhoun, better known as Disasta.

AMG’s first signee was 30 Boy Tezzo. Quarles was present on the day that Tezzo signed his contract andreceived his necklace and custom pendant. Passion knew she wanted to be next.

Her time would come on the set of her music video for single “Kappin.” In a video posted to social media, Fox can be seen putting a diamond cuban link necklace around her neck with the letters “AMG” flushed in diamonds. She was officially the first lady of Arena Muzik Group, and took on the name YNG Thumpa, given to her by Grammy. YNG is short for young. AMG is also the home to R&B artist Whitt and rapper Lowkey.

Most recently, Thumpa performed at the Next 2 Blow Artist Showcase hosted by MOET City Productions and L Clark, which landed her a major opportunity. She could be seen performing at the Crown Coliseum alongside Whitt and national recording artist Kodak Black on his Fayetteville stop for his Super Gremlin Tour.

Her high energy performance caught the attention of executives in attendance that expressed great interest in helping her expand into other markets. However, Thumpa is focused on being a great mother to her daughter and growing as an artist.

Her next single is scheduled to drop Friday, Jan. 27, on all streaming platforms. To follow her growth as an artist, check out YNG Thumpa and Arena Muzik Group on all social media platforms. Salute t oThumpa, AMG, and every activist getting active. Peace.

Rakeem “Keem” Jones is a community advocate and father of three from the Shaw Road/Bonnie Doone area of Fayetteville. He can be reached at keemj45@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville rapper turns passion into positive energy