Thursday, December 8, 2016

Nine Questions: DJQ

Posted By on Thu, Dec 8, 2016 at 10:45 AM

Producer and sound provider DJQ's mission is to enlighten people with the sounds of the barrio. From bring the revolutionary sounds of the 70s to his music, to playing G-FUNK to set the ambiance at a party, Q will always bring the music him and his people have been and continue to listen to.

What was the first concert you attended?
The Sonora Santanera, bro. Cumbia straight up. They were old man, old old. The women was still shacking her rump on stage too. That was in Boise, Idaho with my parents. It was a Cinco de Mayo celebration.

What was the first album you owned?
The first hip hop album I owned was The Sound of Revenge by Chamillionaire. But the first album in general was this disco compilation that my dad had and he gave it to me. It had Curtis Mayfield, Donna Summer—just old disco hits.

What are you listening to these days?
My cassette adapter broke, so I made myself mix cds of all my favorite hip hop jams. There two mix CDs, on them is like Gang Starr, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, the homie MIKE CHEKC local talent, Combine Vibes also homies in town. But for whatever reason man, there are 19 tracks on both of them, I always get stuck listening to the one Big Pun song I have. "Twinz, Deep Cover" I thinks its called. The one where he's like "In the middle of Little Italy, little did we know dilly do diddly."

What artist, genre or musical trend does everyone seem to love, but you just don't get?
You know what? At this point, I feel like I am more accepting of stuff but, I guess noise man. I don't know if it's popular but I just don't understand noise.

What musical act, current or defunct, would you most like to see perform live?
I would love to see Funkadelic, man. George Clinton and his posse. To see how those dudes get down. Them or Sun Ra.

What is your favorite guilty pleasure?
Indie pop, indie pop, man. Marina and The Diamonds and like, I mean it doesn't guilt me as much but I know to my hip hop homies and DJ friends I wouldn't play that shit to them. I wouldn't show them that or tell them I got this sample from that.

What song would you like to have played at your funeral?
I think the song that I would love for people to play at my funeral... "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" by The Smiths. That's the one.

What artist changed your life and how?
A Tribe Called Quest, man. The positivist in their lyrics and what they were going back too—summoning all types of different people. Like on their second album, the "Excursions" track, the sampling on that is ridiculous and they had The Last Poets on that and they are a big influence on me too man. Like their general idea of sampling the stuff that their parents had in their record collection and turning that out.

Figurative gun to your head, what is your favorite album of all time?
Between Super Fly by Curtis Mayfield and To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar. I think "Super Fly" is my favorite album of all time.