Quentin (GQ) Thomas is a music professional

Former North Carolina and Oakland Tech basketballer Quentin Thomas is delving into the music field.

Former UNC player Quentin Thomas tries his hand at rapping
Chris Chase
The Dagger
July 13, 2009

The history of basketball players-turned-rappers is littered with cringe-worthy efforts from Shaq, Kobe, AI and, most recently (and ridiculously) Ron Artest. So to hear that a former UNC basketball player is trying out his hand in the rap game, it's natural to be skeptical. Even if he's better than Chris Webber, that's not saying all that much. It's a low hurdle to clear, you know?

But if the recent success of Quentin Thomas is any indication, the stigma that basketball players should stay out of the studio may be lifted. (At least until Derrick Rose releases his first single.)

Thomas, a reserve guard who was part of Roy Williams' first recruiting class at Carolina, has teamed up with acclaimed hip-hop producer 9th Wonder on a song that will be featured in the intro to EA Sports' upcoming NBA Live. He hopes that the song, and an upcoming mix-tape, will help him secure a record deal. (You can listen to some tracks at Thomas' MySpace page. He raps under the name "GQ". It's pretty good, if a little metaphor-heavy. And, yes, MySpace apparently still exists.)

Go here for the remainder.

This link to a July 10 Raleigh News and Observer piece is in the article.