Darwin Cordale Quinn (born October 7, 1987), known professionally as Lil' C (also known as C-Gutta), is an American

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

record producer, songwriter, and rapper. He is perhaps best known for producing

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

-based rapper

Young Dro D'Juan Montrel Hart (born January 15, 1979), better known by his stage name Young Dro, is an American rapper. Best known for his association with fellow Atlanta-based rapper T.I., Dro signed with his label, Grand Hustle Records, an imprint of ...

's 2006 debut single, " Shoulder Lean", which led to a deal with Grand Hustle Records. Quinn is also part of the record production team Smash Factory, alongside frequent collaborator

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

and Grand Hustle label-boss T.I.

Musical career

Quinn began producing hip hop beats as a means to make money and pay his bills. He embarked on this path at a young age, selling beats to classmates at the high school he attended. At fifteen, he was working in a studio that was housed under Hot 97.7 in

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...

, which is how he made a lot of connections in the music industry early on. At the age 17, Quinn produced the song " My Hood", for Young Jeezy, which was the third single from his debut album '' Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101'' (2005). He would later meet Jason Geter, the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

(CEO) of American rapper T.I.'s Grand Hustle Records. Geter flew Quinn out to

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

on the day of the "I'm A King",

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

shoot. Quinn took his keyboard with and went on to impress Geter with his skills. He gained major recognition in 2006, after producing " Shoulder Lean", from Grand Hustle artist

’s debut album '' Best Thang Smokin''' (2006). It sold over 2 million ringtones, which led him to his first co-publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music and Grand Hustle at the age of 18. In 2007, Quinn and T.I. formed a record production and songwriting team called The Smash Factory, alongside Lamar "Mars" Edwards of 1500 or Nothin'. In late 2014, Quinn produced the

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

of "Heaven Knows" for the fifth season winner of '' The Voice'', Tessanne Chin. "Heaven Knows (Remix)" was released as a single by

Republic Records Republic Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Based in New York City, it was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially ...

in November 2014. In early 2015, Quinn signed with Kobalt Music Group on a new Administration deal. Also in 2015, Quinn produced "Offset" for T.I. and Young Thug, which is included on the soundtrack to the film '' Furious 7''.

Production discography

Singles produced

Other songs

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lil' C African-American record producers American hip-hop record producers Musicians from Jackson, Mississippi Businesspeople from Jackson, Mississippi Southern hip-hop musicians 1987 births Living people Grand Hustle Records artists 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people