DJ Q Pe$o is one of the biggest DJs in Atlanta. He started DJing his freshman year of college in 2013 using an app since he didn’t have equipment. From 2013 to now, DJ Q Pe$o established himself through networking with promoters. He DJed college parties and house parties for years before getting club bookings at Encore Lounge (now closed) and DJing Saturday brunch at 2 Chainz’s Escobar lounge. He’s now one of the official DJs at Candyland, 2 Chainz‘s new strip club, where he DJed with Travis Scott this past weekend.
How did you get into DJing?
Yeah. So, I mean, I was always a musician, you know what I’m saying? I grew up in the church. I was playing the drums, [leading] the church service. I sang, sang in show choir when I was in elementary school. I sang in a quartet. I was in high school band when I was in middle school. So, music was always a big part of my life, and one of the only things that I just naturally gravitated towards, and no one [had] to make me do anything musically. When I got to college, I had a friend and I have to shout out Money Sign Peso, he was the first one to peep the ear I had and he was the one that told me, hey, you’d be a fire DJ.
I remember you started DJing on an app before you had any boards or even a laptop, how did you find out about the app?
Shout out to my boy, Antonio Nolan, man. Tony. I was with my two partners, Trey and Jayvo … we [were] in Jayvo[‘s] room, bro. And Tony just walks in [the] room one day with a DJ app on his iPhone. I didn’t even have an iPhone at the time, but I still had a Galaxy. I still had like [an] S3, still on the Android, so Tony walked [in], and he was playing with the app. And it was so funny, [because] he was [terrible]. Like just [being] honest, and it was funny. No offense Tony, you still a big part. And I’ll never forget; We went to go smoke, we [were] hot boxing in Money Sign Peso[‘s] whip. He handed it to me, like, here, Q. And it was just natural. I started going crazy. And I think that was, like, the birth of Q Pe$o.
How did you end up DJing for Travis Scott?
I knew somebody was going to [pull up], I just didn’t know it was going to be Travis Scott. I just remember like I go to the back and I’m talking to the owner. I think I actually hear him on the phone with [2 Chainz] saying that, oh, yeah, I’m about to pull up, [Lil] Baby and Travis about to be on the way. I go back up there and I just start playing. One part of that night that people don’t even know, Rico actually started as DJ that night DJing. And Rico got on [and] DJ’d a 10, 15 minute set. Because he is really locked in with Travis. And he like, knows what Travis likes to hear. So, he kind of just kind of guided me at first. So, after Rico [got] off, Vaughn and Charm touched down off their private jet from their last show on tour, and Travis Scott and Vaughn are, like, really, really tight, so he came up to the DJ booth. Travis was just in the club vibing at first. Then Baby comes in, and I’ll never forget it. Like, I dropped that “South of France remix,” and as soon as I played [it], I just see it happen … I just see, like, a line of dudes coming. I see two security guards, and then, like, a line of dudes. And then Vaughn comes up to me saying, Travis wants to DJ with you? I’m like, all right. Ten seconds later, boom. Travis Scott’s in the booth and he’s chilling at first. He comes [over] and he daps me up.
What was the most memorable part of DJing with Travis Scott?
It was cool vibing and playing with him. It was just crazy to watch Travis pick up on my energy. I’m bobbing my head [and] he started bobbing his head. He asked for “1st and 3rd.” It was just crazy to see how Travis Scott[‘s] mind works. Like, he’s playing on my computer, like, the same songs that I look at and I play. He’s typing on my computer and just looking at my library and seeing what I got. He saw “1st and 3rd.” It got crazy when he started sending me unreleased music to play. New Travis from his new album and even stuff that didn’t make the Future and Metro Boomin’ [album].
