One of the highlights in Northwest Hip Hop 2010s was the duo Second Family out of Tacoma. NoQuest and Cally Reed formed a lethal team that was able to take a diverse street sound and mutate the lyrical content into an X-Men standard of skill. The two friends have long went on to solo projects but that level of lyrical prowess has not diminished for either MC since the split. On Beautiful Vendetta, his second full-length project, NoQuest (real name Michael Donnell) has switched his moniker to Ricardo Snarez but the trademark mic savagery is in full effect.
It’s the second name change for NoQuest since Second Family, the first one being Johnny SkiMask of which he dropped a project Villainous in 2015. I asked the 253 MC about the name shifts and Donnell explained that each one was like a different persona, a different side of his nature. SkiMask was the grimy side and Ricardo Snarez is something else entirely and it shows in the audio.