Joaquin Dean Jr. aka Lil Waah and Quino is a rapper/actor born September 2, 2002 in New York City. He is of Trinidadian and African American heritage.
It should come as no surprise that Lil Waah has been performing since he was two years old. After all, Lil Waah was born into a “Hip-Hop Royal Family” with a serious pedigree, which includes his father (Waah Dean), his uncle (Dee Dean) and his aunt (Chivon Dean) all co-founders of the Ruff Ryders enterprise of companies and all played integral roles in launching the careers of DMX, The Lox, Eve, Swizz Beatz, Cassidy and solo releases from all three members of The Lox. At its pinnacle, Ruff Ryders would also go on to release five label compilation projects over the course of a decade; and included 1 Platinum and billboard topping release and 2 projects that went Gold and made debuts on Billboards Top 5 chart.
Lil Waah got the rapping bug at an early age and virtually grew up in Powerhouse Studio with his Dad, surrounded by the music of DMX, Jadakiss, Eve–and like so many other children, he was influenced by the music and artistry of Michael Jackson. Spending all that time in the studio with his father and uncle, Waah had the opportunity to also learn how to produce and write music from his cousin Swizz Beatz. In 2010 at the age of seven, Waah wrote his first song and won the New York State WOW contest. That same year he performed and wowed the crowd at Harlem’s Juneteenth Celebration. In 2012, Lil Waah was also featured on BET’s “The Cipher” alongside DMX and DJ Premier. In 2013, Waah released a series of viral videos that garnished massive views including “Jump” and “Showtime” featuring Swizz Beatz. As a follow up to those heat-seekers Lil Waah is gearing up to release his first official mixtape, Playtime Is Over, which will be released on 8-19-14, and it will be hosted by Swizz Beatz and released and distributed by Ruff Ryders Indy, Inc.