Who’s TRQ? Unwrapping the Unknown Rapper

He’s a virgin. He loves his President. And he’s a rapper, kind of--although he’s never made a record and has rarely performed outside church.

He’s Steven Gooden, a.k.a. TRQ (for The Right Question), and he’s a textbook example of how one person can send the media chasing.

A conservative Christian from Van Nuys, Gooden quit his job as a legal file clerk Aug. 6 to handle media calls full time since agreeing to perform at a pre-convention Republican youth rally tonight in Houston.

He is the only scheduled entertainer at the rally, coming on after a speech from the chairman of the Republican Party, Richard Bond. His rap song “We Are Americans,” touches on abortion, welfare, family values and other issues dear to the expected crowd of 2,000 young Republicans.

Gooden, 28, has made no record, and his performances have been pretty much confined to Granada Hills Community Church.

So how has he landed a spot on tonight’s rally and become a media item?

Quick thinking.

After the controversy over Ice-T’s “Cop Killer” album, Gooden contacted the GOP and offered his services as a young black conservative.

“I let them know how I wanted to be helpful to our President of our United States,” Gooden says. “I think at this moment my country is calling me, my President needs me. I’m making my little contribution to his re-election.”

When the GOP youth committee asked Gooden to perform, Gooden says he called a Southern California newspaper, which ran a story about the rapper.

Arsenio Hall seized on the story and asked his audience if anyone had heard of TRQ. “A rapper supporting Bush?” Hall said sarcastically. After the Hall show, the media calls came pouring in--Time magazine, the Washington Post, CNN. . . .

This isn’t the first time Gooden has been in the media. He called the “MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour” and “Nightline” 10 months ago and offered his services as spokesman for abstinence. The program staff apparently kept his name on file and contacted him in April when the “NewsHour” examined the topic of teen-age sex. On June 12, he again appeared on the “News-Hour” to defend Vice President Dan Quayle after the “Murphy Brown” flap.

Meanwhile, Gooden--who is as prone to church songs and love ballads as rap tunes--is optimistic that tonight’s appearance in Houston will open a career door for him, if not in rap then possibly as a TV-radio talk-show host.

“I recognize the power of the media,” Gooden says. “It’s important for people like myself to be in the limelight so that we can affect right changes.”