Quinton Armani Gardiner (known professionally as Pressa, born May 10, 1996) is a Rapper based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is also known for his hit song, "Canada Goose" featuring Tory Lanez, the music video received 6 million views in one month. He is also well known for touring as an opening act for Drake on the European leg of his Boy Meets World Tour. Pressa has not signed to a major music label releasing music under his own label, Blue Feathers Records. ^[1] He has also started a website for selling branded Product (business).

Quinton Gardiner was born and raised on Driftwood Avenue as a third generation resident of Jane and Finch, the poorest neighbourhood in all of Toronto. His father Mark Gardner known as Prestige has a long list of convictions related to drugs and violence. Quinton is of Fillipino and Jamaican descent.

On June 15, 1996 Mark Gardner shot and killed a youth worker who was volunteering at a Community dance when Quinton was only 36 days old. A judge called the crime a "deliberate execution" and sentenced Mr. Gardner to at least 15 years in prison for second-degree murder. The imprisonment of Mr. Gardner left the family put a financial strain on the family. Quinton also has a brother Mark Gardner Jr known as Chermar who is three years older than him. Despite the discrepancy in the spelling of the surnames, sources confirm Mark Gardner is the father of Chermar and Quinton.

Quinton's early musical influences came from his uncles who listened to Tupac Shakur and Reggae artists including Garnet Silk, Bob Marley, and Sizzla. ^[1]

Quinton's rap name of Pressa came as a short form for his father's nickname of "Prestige" a reference to how well respected and known he was in the streets of the Jane and Finch area he lived.

CBC News and other Canadian news outlets have incorrectly stated that his name comes from pressing of the trigger of a gun.

Pressa has had multiple legal issues and run ins with the law from a young age along with his older brother Chermar Gardner.

By the age of 18, Chermar was manufacturing and distributing crack cocaine. By the fall of 2011, Toronto Police considered Chermar the leader of a violent gang called the Young Buck Killers, which ran drugs and guns throughout the Greater Toronto Area. The gang was subsequently linked to more than 60 arrests in an organized crime raid dubbed Project Marvel.

In court, evidence linked handguns found in the Gardner home to four separate shootings.

Confidential informants told police that Chermar led the Young Buck Killers while Quinton was "second in charge" and "next in line," according to a judge's written decision.

According to Pressa, a raid which in addition to guns found crack and ecstasy lead to him being incarcerated for the first time at the age of 15 for 14 months.

At the age of 17, Quinton was wanted for attempted murder and fled to the west side of the Canada.

At the age of 18 he was caught by police and spent 10 months incarcerated.

In 2014, Chermar was convicted on 14 gun, drug and gang charges.

At a hearing to determine his sentence he took full responsibility for his crimes and pleaded for lenience.

"I was deceived by the generations that preceded me with the cars, the clothes, the women and the fancy jewellery that this type of lifestyle was a life to live, and it was also the shortcut around the hard work and toil," he said, before expressing hope that Quinton would avoid his example.

"I feel like I failed my little brother … And if I don't change my life that kid is never going to change his life, and I have to change for him."

He was handed a 10-year sentence.

On April 24, 2016 Pressa was arrested and charged with kidnapping for ransom and assault with a weapon.

The kidnapping was in response to gunfight between Pressa's alleged gang the Young Buck Killas and the Queen's Drive Crips a rival gang.

On April 19, four members of the Queen's Drive Crips had attempted to enter a Young Buck Killas party hosted at a condominium on Front Street in Toronto. When the four rival gang members exited an elevator in the condo a gunfight ensued leaving one man wounded.

In response, Pressa and other members of the Young Buck Killas allegedly kidnapped two teenagers they believed were affiliated with a rival gang, the Queen's Drive Crips.

The duo was beaten, coerced to play Russian roulette and forced to perform sex acts. Video clips of the brutality were broadcast by social media. Eventually, a ransom was paid and the teens were returned to their families.

On April 24, officers in the Jane-Finch area, chased down and arrested Pressa.

In a news conference, Staff Inspector Mike Earl, head of the hold-up squad, named Mr. Gardner as one of the "instigators" but not the "ringleader" of the kidnapping plot.

Pressa's defense lawyer Anthony Robbins has said, "It is not alleged that he is an instigator."

"He is alleged to be a minor part in the incident.

He will, hopefully, be exonerated at trial."

While in custody at the Toronto South Detention Centre, Mr. Gardner was involved in a fight with rival gang members, the results of which are disputed.

"Now the rumors 'round the streets that I broke my two arms," he rapped on his song on Orange Jumpsuit, "when I sent him to ER."

In August, 2016 Quinton Gardiner was arrested and charged for alleged breaches of his bail conditions involving accusations about the use of a cellphone and the making of a rap video.

Pressa started his musical career featuring on the song "Wass Gang" with fellow Toronto rappers Robin Banks, GD, and FB.

The music video for the song was posted on YouTube in November, 2015 and soon received hundreds of thousands of views, by the end of the 2017 the video had received around 3.5 million views. The song was a tribute to his friend Kwasi "Wassi" Skene-Peters who was a killed in a shootout with Toronto Police.

A later YouTube music video posted in January 2016, "Deadmihana" gave Pressa even greater exposure getting hundreds of thousands of views and reaching 2.6 million views by the end of 2017. The song also gained the attention of famous rappers including Meek Mill and Drake who is also from Toronto. ^[1]

In January, 2017 Pressa became famous internationally after performing as an opening act for Drake on the European leg of his Boy Meets World Tour.

At the time Drake faced criticism from Canadian media outlets including the Toronto Sun for taking Pressa on tour since he was out on bail for charges related to a violent kidnapping. To go on the tour and travel outside Canada, a judge had to grant Pressa a bail variance.

In December, 2017 Pressa released the biggest song "Canada Goose" featuring fellow Toronto rapper Tory Lanez in a music video posted on YouTube. The song received 6 million views on YouTube alone in December. ^[1]

Pressa has been compared both physically and artistically to Eazy-E, the diminutive godfather of gangsta rap. His rhymes revolve around guns, drugs, cars, women, and his incarcerated family members.

"'Cause I'm realer than death, there ain't no realer than me," he says on Orange Jumpsuit. According to The Globe and Mail, his lyrics suggest a deep immersion in a violent criminal lifestyle. They seem to glorify gangsterism. But they can also be interpreted as a first move towards escaping that life through music.

Pressa has said “He was the first real rapper outta Canada."

"The first realest gangsta rapper outta Canada to really do this and make it.

I want them to remember me as the best, not only in Canada, but also in the world.”