Dre'Quan Priest
Dre'Quan Priest is the ears behind Only Raw Records, the label he runs alongside Boobie Ike — the one listening to demos, sitting in on sessions, and deciding who's actually worth the studio time versus who just talks a good game. In a city as saturated with aspiring artists as Vice City is shown to be, that instinct is worth more than the marketing budget. Signing Real Dimez appears to be his highest-profile move so far, and the fact that it's treated as a notable event within the story suggests Only Raw Records has enough of a reputation that its choices actually move the needle for an up-and-coming act's career. That's not a small thing to build from nothing in a city this competitive. His partnership with Boobie Ike gives him the kind of backing most producers spend a decade trying to find — money, connections, and a business partner who isn't just in it for a vanity credit. Whether that partnership is as clean as it looks from the outside is a different question entirely, and one the story will likely spend more time on than the music itself. As written so far, Dre'Quan reads less like a background industry figure and more like someone whose label is a genuine piece of Vice City's cultural landscape — the kind of name a local artist name-drops because it actually means something.