WHERE IT STARTED.
"Quizz" was the first brand I ever built and would become the lead character for every project I worked on after that. Wherever the name "Quizz" came up, one could trust that whatever was brewing was fresh & exciting and something to look forward to.
It started in late 1996 when I was a 2nd year Advertising student at Ontario College of Art & Design in Toronto. I was at my brother's apartment on Gerrard St. E. bumping Mary J. 'n Meth when I flipped to the instrumental to "try a ting". I started rapping somethign I wrote over the beat. It worked. I was good. I knew that night that I was a rapper and knew what I had to do: build a brand, a real brand just like I learned in Creative Business class. I looked around the room, landing on a box of Crayola crayons and just like that, my stage name was Peach. Next up? A photo shoot, of course. My brother, Derek was very helpful with my new venture. He took the pictures which all turned out great! I printed a bunch of 8x10s at Kinko's (that's it, below) and hit the streets running!
Ok, so now what?
I had exactly ZERO links in Toronto. I was just a typical student, waitressing part-time and living in a basement apartment with a shared bathroom, surviving on ramen. All I knew is that I had to get out there and make myself be known. But where? I scoured free magazines like NOW for all the urban events around town and paid close attention to flyers plastered on the street posts and walls. Bamboo and Big Bop were 2 venues in Toronto where I showed up regularly for Hip-Hop events. I remember one of those nights like it was yesterday because it was the night Biggie Smalls died. I was in the club, sitting on a couch in front of a coffee table covered in flyers. Around the same time the DJ stopped the music and announced Biggie getting shot in LA, I spotted a flyer for a talent show in Scarborough. I'd never performed on a stage or even used a mic but I had to start somewhere! The next day I called the number, arranged the audition, got through, entered the Hip-Hop category and prepared my music for the big day - Bone Thugs Crossroads instrumental for round 1 (Hip-Hop) and Jazwad's Valley of Death riddim (Dancehall, naturally) for round 2, if I made it that far. The day came, I made it to round 2 and ended up taking first place in both the Hip-Hop AND Reggae categories. Yay, me! The hard part was over and it was full-speed ahead. After spending the summer in Jamaica that year, finding a manager and changing my name to Quizz, I knew I needed to be there full time if I was going to pursue a career in the music industry. By Christmas, I was home for good and booked to perform at a number of shows including Sting 1997, a massive annual stage show. My manager knew this was my audience. My style was like a gangsta Left Eye mixed with the original P!NK. From jump, Quizz was branded a badass and to fill in the many blanks, Innocent Kru, the biggest act in town those days, took me under their wing and brought me to every show, on every stage, in every ghetto across the island to perform with them. Nobody really knows how, but I fit right in :D
⏩
I grew bored of being the "new artist" and the white girl rapper/deejay gimmick was getting old fast. My manager was a terrible person and I vowed I would never have anybody control my career again. I wanted to play a part in all aspects of not just my career but the entertainment industry on a whole! I wanted to perform, voice, write, build beats, make hits, DJ, find my own artists and talent, make other people famous, promote my own shows, shoot videos & documentaries, spread the word, market and brand and do all the things on my own accord. The way to do that, I figured out was to just create the platforms that allow all these things to happen. Corner the industry!
Over the years I've played a fundamental role in many brands that have literally shaped Jamaican culture as we know it today. This site started out as a basic brand portfolio to link on job applications and has turned into my life story. I can't help it. Like I introduced myself on the Home page, I'm a storyteller. Every brand has an amazing story behind it! Here, I tell my story through the stories of my brands.
What's your story? I'd love to hear it :)
Carrie 'Quizz' Sigurdson: Unquestionably a party promoter
https://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110704/flair/flair6.html