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Please Believe It, Hamilton Park is Back
Hamilton Park is back and better than ever. Same flavor, new sounds, HP is still putting it down for the ladies. After their last and most recent release of It Was Necessary, the Atlanta-based crew is ready for world domination. Markus Free, Anthony Dorsey, and Chris Voice make up this profound brotherhood and each giving a certain something to the group. They aren’t your average boy band, they’re all grown up and hungry as ever. The Quintessential Gentleman caught up with Hamilton Park to discuss their reunion, their biggest influences, the creative process of the project, what makes them Quintessential Gentleman and more.
What is the significance of the name Hamilton Park?
Chris Voice: Hamilton Park is a park on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia. That’s where we used to do a lot of honing, crafting, building and getting prepared for this journey as a group. We went from actually meeting up there to play basketball, because it is a recreational center, to actually working out. We took on that name because it has sentimental value.
Anthony Dorsey: If you notice, there is a Hamilton Park in almost every city around the nation, so that can be a safe haven for anybody. It was a safe haven for us, so not only did we develop our skills there, but we actually were saved by music in Hamilton Park.
Markus Free: Saved and anointed at an appointed time to be artists. No, seriously, all jokes aside. I don’t know if it was a week before, maybe a couple days before we got our deal, Chris actually was coming out of jail; so Hamilton Park has always been a place to where we could run to when things were tough and when things were not moving so in the rate we wanted it to move. Like I said if it wasn’t for Hamilton Park, who knows where our lives would be? Who knows at who’s jail, at who’s hospital we’d end up? If it wasn’t for music, who knew where we would be right now?
Being off the scene for some time, what inspired the current reunion of Hamilton Park?
Markus Free: Hallelujah. It reminds me back in the time, about 2017, they had this movie come out about New Edition. Me and my brothers always been in communication, and I could think about looking at YouTube footage of us out touring and how I felt. It kind of felt like an old relationship, when you would look at old pictures of someone you dated and you’re like, “Man, I want to call them and see how they’re doing. I miss this person.” When I saw the New Edition movie, it was like, “Yo, I need to call my boys and see if we can rekindle this flame.” It was not a question. It was almost as if, “What took you so long?” It was almost as if it was destined, it was necessary. A blogger reached out to us to do an interview. We hadn’t even had a project name or anything and someone wanted to interview us. I remember we posted it on our Facebook page and the picture that we posted, it started picking up some attention. Then, lo and behold, our long lost friend, Miss Joy of Playtime, she reached out to us and told us to … cease and desist all music, all photos. It brings us to this point here. She came in and began to mold it and we began to understand what it was going to take to get this brand back to where it’s supposed to be. Hamilton Park is a winning brand and we are not going to stop until we reach our destination. That’s the big part that rekindled it.
What do you, as a group, hope to accomplish with the release of your new EP, “It Was Necessary?”
Anthony: The ultimate goal, I think, for the collective is to have influence. It’s nothing more and nothing less than that. The money will come, the fame will come, all of that will come. It’s a part of the territory. The most important thing is having influence. When you can impact culture positively, I think that’s the most potent thing that we want to get accomplished and come across, again, sonically and musically. It’s about the influence because, once you have influence, you can move the world.
Markus Free: I just want to say, if Hamilton Park does not win because of the purpose we have, a lot of young boys and girls will suffer because of the purpose. Music is a small part of what we’re going to be doing. We’re not going to go into detail. Ant kind of gave you a lot more than I would have. We’re up to something and music is just a small part. I’ll just say that much.
What makes you Quintessential Gentleman, individually and as a group?
Anthony: Well, we call ourselves the perfect gentlemen because, at the end of the day, we still open up doors for our ladies, pull their chairs out before they sit down. Chivalry is not dead, and I think that every gentleman prospectively will know what to do in the event that they come across a young lady who is “ratchet” and how to change the dynamic of her mind with what you do as a gentleman.
Markus Free: The way I found myself a quintessential gentleman, like my brother Ant, was saying, I know how to treat you. I’m married so I do respectful things like the missionary. My wife will support these points. I do missionary. I pull out chairs, too. Occasionally sideways. We are just Gentlemen all around in my lifestyle. That’s how I’m quintessential. HP all day, baby.
Chris Voice: I have to be a quintessential gentleman. Whenever I meet a female, I try to see the best in her. I’m not really worried about what my homies said. I’m still going to take you to dinner. I’m going to hear your side of the story and learn who you are. That makes me quintessential right there.
Hamilton Park is all Quintessential because we are connoisseurs of love.
What do you want your fans to know about Hamilton Park, and where can they find you?
Anthony D: I think the most important thing to know about Hamilton Park is that we’re not going anywhere, besides progressively forward. If you’re not on this train now, you will be soon.
Markus Free: Chris can tell you where to find us. I just want to let you know Hamilton Park, we’re just not a music group. You will see us everywhere, from movies, acting, to choreographing your next artist’s show. We are a brand that is bigger than just singing and just entertainment. We really want to venture off into other venues like helping Boys and Girls Club stuff. We really care about the people. The money will come like Ant said. Fame will come. We really want to leave a brand in this generation. We like to have fun and all that stuff and at the end of the day, we are genuine brothers who really care about the next man. If you don’t win, we do not win. Please remember that about us. We sincerely care about our people.
Chris Voice: Hamilton Park has always been a group that will and has marked time. Now that we’re back and our fans received us so well. I just want to say shout out to them and we’re not going to leave you hanging again. We’re going to continue on that path to mark in time because we have so many fans that we marked a standpoint in their life, whether it was visiting their school, whether it was taking them out to dinner at a restaurant, whether it was shutting down the show. People will really remember us at a time in their life that they will never forget.
Listen to It Was Necessary EP and look out for them joining Day 26 on tour.
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