Quadeca
American rapper, producer and YouTuber (born 2000) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Benjamin Fernando Barajas Lasky (born October 2, 2000), better known by his stage name Quadeca (formerly QuadecaX8), is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, and former YouTuber/video game commentator. Lasky began on the Internet by uploading rap songs, music videos, comedy sketches, and video game gameplay to his YouTube channel.
Quadeca | ||||||||||
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Quadeca performing at House of Blues, Houston (2024) | ||||||||||
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| Birth name | Benjamin Fernando Barajas Lasky[1] | |||||||||
| Born | October 2, 2000 Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |||||||||
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| Years active | 2014–present | |||||||||
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YouTube information | ||||||||||
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| Years active | 2012–present | |||||||||
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| Subscribers | 1.93 million[2] | |||||||||
| Views | 233.5 million[2] | |||||||||
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Last updated: April 2, 2024 | ||||||||||
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Quadeca deviated away from his YouTube career to focus on his music career, releasing four mixtapes prior to the albums Voice Memos in 2019, From Me to You in 2021, and I Didn't Mean to Haunt You in 2022. The mixtape Scrapyard, released on February 16, 2024, contains features from Brakence and Kevin Abstract.
Early life
Benjamin Lasky was born on October 2, 2000, in Los Angeles, California. His father, Mitch Lasky, is a Benchmark general partner and former entrepreneur and video game executive.[3] Lasky became an avid soccer player as a child and was enthusiastic about hip hop and other forms of music, spending his free time writing songs on guitar and piano.[4] He also has a younger sister named Anna who was featured in some of his earliest videos, along with an older sister, Natasha. Lasky opened his YouTube channel on June 11, 2012, under the name QuadecaX8; his early videos were based around video game commentating and the FIFA franchise. He was admitted to Menlo School in 2015, where he joined the soccer team.[5] Lasky continued to play with his soccer team through his student years and became a tri-captain of the team.[6][7]
Career
Summarize
Perspective
In 2014, Lasky began to create rap-related content and freestyles for his YouTube channel. In February, he performed at a middle school talent show that went viral on YouTube.[8]
In late 2018, YouTuber KSI, called out Quadeca and other YouTube rappers, referring to them as "frauds". Lasky responded with a diss track, titled "Insecure" within a week.[9] The music video received over 8 million views within 10 days. In November, KSI gave a review of the track and praised it, saying that it warranted a diss track from himself.[10] He responded to Lasky's song with his own diss track "Ares," to which Lasky gave a lukewarm response in a tweet.[11][12] Logan Paul revealed that he had wanted to collaborate with Lasky to diss KSI as well, but was denied.[13]
On March 8, 2019, he released his debut studio album Voice Memos,[14] and on March 22, Voice Memos peaked at No. 42 on Billboard's Independent Albums and Heatseekers Albums.[15][16] He explained the lyrics of the song "Uh Huh!" in a Genius interview.[17]
He was featured on the song "Roll the Dice" from KSI and Randolph's collaborative album New Age on April 12, 2019, and continued releasing singles for the rest of the year including the songs "Not a Diss Track," "Schoenberg (featuring Moxas), and "I Don't Care".[18]
After an extended hiatus, on January 29, 2021, Lasky reannounced his second studio album titled From Me to You on YouTube,[19] which released on March 30, 2021, under AWAL.[20][21][22][23] He released the self-produced single "Sisyphus" on March 20, 2021, which garnered widespread critical praise.[24][25][26]
On September 19, 2022, Lasky released the lead single to his third album I Didn't Mean to Haunt You, titled "Born Yesterday".[27] He then released the album's second single, titled "Tell Me a Joke", on October 25, 2022.[28] On the same day, he announced his album, revealing the cover art, tracklist, and release date. The album, a self-produced concept album where Lasky plays the role of a ghost, reckoning with his own suicide as his loved ones move on without him released on November 11, 2022[29][30][4] and features experimental rapper Danny Brown (who performs from the perspective of Carbon Monoxide gas) and the Sunday Service Choir. The album was released alongside an accompanying film later that same day. I Didn't Mean To Haunt You marked a notable stylistic shift in Quadeca's artistry that was celebrated by critics such as Spill Magazine who rated the album 4/5 stars and theneedledrop who ranked the album's lead single "Born Yesterday" as the #6 best song of 2022.[31][32]
On October 3, 2023, Lasky announced via his Twitter and Instagram pages an upcoming project, "The Scrapyard Series". Lasky detailed that the project would consist of five separate 2-3 song EPs of songs that didn't make the cut for I Didn't Mean to Haunt You, or his upcoming album Vanisher, Horizon Scraper each one being released every 2–3 weeks.[33] The first EP was released on October 11, 2023, titled SCRAPYARD I.[34] The second EP, SCRAPYARD II, was released October 30, 2023, and the third EP, SCRAPYARD III, was released on November 22, 2023.[35] On December 24, 2023, Lasky announced that the remainder of the SCRAPYARD EPs would not be released, but promised that the series would "go out with a bang."[36] On February 15, 2024, Lasky published a music video for his song 'WAY TOO MANY FRIENDS' as promotional material for the final installment of the series, a mixtape titled Scrapyard. The mixtape, which compiled all of the songs on the EPs as well as songs previously unreleased, released on February 23, 2024. SCRAPYARD built upon Quadeca's newfound critical success in online music spaces with TheNeedleDrop giving the project a coveted score of 9/10, ranking it as the 12th best album of 2024.[37] KTLA also listed SCRAPYARD as the #7 best album of 2024.[38]
Artistry
Style and influences
Lasky's early releases were categorized as YouTube rap but he has since diversified, combining elements of experimental hip hop, art pop, neo-psychedelia and folktronica. His earlier projects were influenced by rappers like Logic and J Cole. In his second album From Me To You, Quadeca draws from influences such as Tyler, The Creator, Joji, Childish Gambino and Frank Ocean. Quadeca has cited artists such as The Microphones, Duster, Lingua Ignota, Björk, Jane Remover and Caroline Polachek as influences for his third studio album I Didn't Mean To Haunt You.[39]
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |
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| US Ind. [15] |
US Heat [16] | ||
| Voice Memos |
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42 | 15 |
| From Me to You |
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— | — |
| I Didn't Mean to Haunt You |
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— | — |
| Vanisher, Horizon Scraper |
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To be released | |
Mixtapes
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Work in Progress |
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| Nostalgia for the Now |
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| Bad Internet Rapper |
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| Out of Order |
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| Scrapyard |
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| Title | Album details |
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| 1Day (with Saint G) |
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EPs
| Title | EP details |
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| Scrapyard I |
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| Scrapyard II |
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| Scrapyard III |
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Singles
| Title | Year | Album/Mixtape |
|---|---|---|
| "Wii Music Fire" | 2015 | Work in Progress |
| "Mind's Eye" | 2016 | Nostalgia for the Now |
| "You Can't Rap" | ||
| "Dreamlife" (featuring Gracie Zander) |
Non-album single | |
| "2020" | Bad Internet Rapper | |
| "Unscripted" | ||
| "Lemon Tree" | 2017 | |
| "Cause He Has One" | Non-album single | |
| "Who Would've Thought" | Out of Order | |
| "Idontwannaspeakagain" | ||
| "Hold Up" (featuring Quentin Miller) | ||
| "Clouted Up" | 2018 | Non-album single |
| "Heart Attack" | ||
| "No Deal" (featuring Moxas) | ||
| "Unusual" (featuring B. Lou) |
Voice Memos | |
| "Insecure" | Non-album single | |
| "Four Horsemen" (with Crypt, Dax & Scru Face Jean) |
2019 | |
| "War!" (featuring Dax) |
Voice Memos | |
| "Uh-Huh" | ||
| "Not a Diss Track" | Non-album single | |
| "Volt" (with Sad Frosty) | ||
| "Gordon Ramsay" (featuring Sad Frosty) | ||
| "The Man on my Left Shoulder" | Voice Memos | |
| "Tomfoolery" (with Egovert, Kil & Moxas) |
Non-album single | |
| "I Don't Care" | ||
| "Schoenberg" (featuring Moxas) | ||
| "Fish Outta Bacardi" (featuring Egovert) | ||
| "Beamin'" | ||
| "Class in Session!" (with A1TH) |
2020 | Ignorant as Hell |
| "Where'd You Go?" | From Me to You | |
| "Alone Together" | ||
| "Live Like This" | Non-album single | |
| "Sisyphus" | 2021 | From Me to You |
| "Rip Bozo" (featuring Lou from Paradise) |
Non-album single | |
| "Born Yesterday" | 2022 | I Didn't Mean to Haunt You |
| "Tell Me a Joke" | ||
| "Godstained" | 2025 | Vanisher, Horizon Scraper |
| "Monday" |
Guest appearances
| Title | Year | Album/Mixtape |
|---|---|---|
| "Batter Up" (Didac featuring Quadeca) |
2018 | Non-album singles |
| "Lost in the Clouds" (CamDaye featuring FiveAm & Quadeca) | ||
| "Supreme" (Reactitup featuring Quadeca) | ||
| "Illy Mode" (Scru Face Jean featuring Quadeca) |
2019 | |
| "Roll the Dice" (Randolph featuring Quadeca) |
New Age | |
| 'Tonight's the Night" (Walia featuring Quadeca) |
Non-album single | |
| "Emergency" (B. Lou featuring Dax & Quadeca) |
BOW | |
| "Duh Nuh" (Crypt featuring Quadeca) |
Tales From The Crypt | |
| "Outbreak" (Josh A featuring Quadeca) |
Disgrace | |
| "Bigger" (Joey Nato featuring Quadeca) |
Who Made This Album? | |
| "SOLID" (JAG featuring Quadeca) |
2020 | Non-album single |
| "Darken The Shadow" (Pellek featuring Quadeca) |
2021 | Darken The Shadow OST |
| "Tunnel of Glass" (Asian Glow featuring Quadeca) |
2024 | Unwired Detour |
References
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