Decatur High School graduate Quincy Henry remembers when he first saw an overpriced Casio-Rapman-like keyboard at the former PayLess, now Rite Aid, on 21st Avenue Southwest.

The then-fourth-grader would play the keyboard while his mom picked up her prescriptions.

But one day he saw it was miss-priced for $5. He had to have it.

“That got me into playing keys,” he said, noting he drew inspiration from his father, mother and brothers but ultimately taught himself how to play. “I overheard my dad play old James Brown [growing up].”

Now, at 30 years old, Henry, who goes by the stage name Q Dot, is making waves as he tours across the country promoting his new album “Black Gold.”

And he has reason to celebrate after learning his new EP (extended play), also named “Black Gold,” hit the iTunes Hip Hop chart at No. 17 on March 2.

“I’ve gotten more out of this release than any other release,” Henry said, adding he’s created about 300 songs.

“Black Gold,” the song, is a lyrically heavy piece with Henry rapping and playing piano. The song rips into racism, injustice and African-American history but, in spite of it all, Henry affirms, “You are black gold” to the unsung heroes.

Although he said people may immediately think “Black Gold” is about a “racial thing,” it’s ultimately about people understanding the true value of themselves and the people around them.

“We’re all rare and valuable — like black gold — but with the recent issues of police brutality, especially against young men of color and the backlash and violence that accompanied it, with the gender bias in our workplaces, with the socioeconomic disparity that separates many of us from one another, I wanted to make a statement that even through all of these obstacles we all still shine and we all have something to contribute.”

Statements such as, “Shout out to Jimi Hendrix, Charles and Quincy Jones, and all the black gold that ever called Seattle home,” are coupled with “Shout out to the slaves who had to live through the crazy times and still made love and made babies” in his EP. But it’s Henry’s own stories of a Caucasian girl who had never seen an African-American in person before him during college or his grandfather’s stories of the KKK that show his passion behind the lyrics.

In fact, his whole album deviates from the norm of today’s topics — sex, drugs and violence — that often permeate throughout Hip Hop.

“… From where I sit, Hip Hop has lost its fire for speaking about certain topics,” he said.

But in his song, “The Revolution,” also on his new album, Henry points to nationally known young African-Americans Mike Brown and Trayvon Martin who were unjustly killed because of what many people think were racist tendencies.

“The revolution will not be televised but it will be screened on YouTube and Spotify,” the chorus sings.

Henry said it seems to him that most “guys and gals that are in the spotlight are only worried about making radio/club friendly records and not so much the kind of art that is being put on display.”

“We (Hip Hop) had a history of being the voice for social issues and disenfranchised groups who were ignored by the rest of the country and that’s been missing,” he said. “So I wanted to make a record that had a little bit of that edge in it and would make some people a little uncomfortable or at least make them think about things.”

Henry played basketball and baseball at Decatur High School while participating in DECCA as well.

During that time, he said his brothers were big athletes in Federal Way and went off to pursue sports in college but he knew “college athletics wasn’t in the cards” for him.

After graduating in 2001, Henry attended Central Washington University and was offered a record deal from Interscope Records his freshman year. However, he never got to sign the deal because the man who offered it to him was fired soon after.

“But he taught me a lot about music at the time,” Henry said. “He told me several times that you don’t need a label.”

Henry never heard from him again but that’s when he began to write raps and practice the piano in his dorm room.

“That’s when I said I needed to learn the business,” he said, adding that he would eventually get his bachelor’s degree in music business.

Between 2010-2011, Henry found himself nominated for a Grammy. Although he attributes it to an “odd year for the Grammys” because of their submission deadlines, he said it was nice to be nominated in the “Best Urban Alternative” song category.

“I put my name in the hat for nine different categories,” he said, adding it didn’t win that category but it was “validation that [his] art was good enough.”

Currently a student at Full Sail University, Henry is in the process of working toward his master’s degree in Internet marketing. After that, a doctorate in organizational leadership, a program that he’s applied for. He hopes to eventually teach the music business to others and consult on the side.

Until then, the Tacoma resident is staying busy with touring and using social media to get his name out.

According to a music analytics website, nextbigsound.com, Henry has determined his music is seeing 32 times the amount of social media activity of someone with his audience size — 10,000 people on social media — as he visits 20 cities around the country.

Henry will never forget the moment he decided to dedicate his life to his music and create his self-booked tour.

On Nov. 22, 2013, he quit his job at Comcast.

“I had a show offer at the Jack Pot Music Hall in Lawrence, Kansas and my job would not let me off of work to go,” he said. “So I said, ‘Ok, I need to make a decision.’”

He remembers one of his best friends asked him if he was going to “hang up the microphone” and piano to sell Internet for the rest of his life.

“Nobody had asked me that before,” Henry recalled. “He said I needed to create my break.”

Next thing he knew, he was playing in Pennsylvania, New York, Idaho, Texas, Kentucky and Montana before stopping at home in between some of his shows.

“If I’m going to do it, I’m gonna do it,” he said. “I’m going to take every opportunity I can.”

During his current tour, he looked up Macklemore’s old tour itinerary and has reached out to many of the venues, taking whatever he could get.

Although he hates to sound cliche, Henry advises young aspiring artists to simply get out there and work hard.

“I remember being a younger musician and thinking there was something else to it, but there’s no magic pill,” he said. “It’s getting out and working. You’ve got to get out and get in front of people.”

Having studied Taylor Swift’s former manager, one thing that stuck with him was in order to sell one million records, it would take meeting one million people.

“Believe what you’re doing and surround yourself with supportive people,” he said.

Henry hopes to perform a local show sometime in the future but is waiting for “Black Gold” to make the Billboard charts first.

Until then, Q Dot, a nickname that stuck with him from high school, is looking forward to his next big show on March 20 in Houston, Texas.

For more information or to listen to Henry’s music, visit www.iamqdot.bandcamp.com or www.Facebook.com/iamqdot.