DJ GQ has, perhaps, a rare story, having been able to find success at every juncture of his career. Growing up in Jamaica of mixed Chinese and Cuban descent, he was able to break into the music industry as a DJ once he moved to Miami. From there, he toured with some of the greatest artists of the 90s and 2000s:
Akon, DMX, and Kevin Lyttle, just to name a few. Nowadays, GQ has scaled back on touring and is focusing on life in Miami. Regardless, between DJing shows, producing music, collaborating with an array of artists, releasing a new EP, and running a business, GQ proves to be juggling a multitude of roles. And he wouldn’t want it any other way.
In this interview with DJ GQ, the multitalented artist and entrepreneur discusses how his heritage and upbringing influence his sound, what’s next for his music and his bar and grill GQ’s Craft House, and how he got two iconic nicknames: GQ and Miami’s Mixtape King.
Sophia Benz: First off, I understand that it was your big birthday bash on Saturday!
DJ GQ: Thank you! Funnily enough, my birthday is actually on August 10, but I’m going to be traveling at the end of this week until the 15th, so I was like, it’s kind of now or never.
Sophia Benz: Exactly! How did you celebrate?
DJ GQ: We got Fatman Scoop, he’s actually from New York, he came down to Miami, Mad Stuntman, the guy who sings “I Like to Move it Move it,” came and performed, and I just had a whole bunch of people come, it was just high energy, and it was awesome, just epic!
Sophia Benz: That sounds incredible! Yeah, I wish I could have been in Florida for it. And for those who don’t know, you know you are a Billboard charting DJ, mixer, and producer, you DJ for Y100Miami, Bob Marley Radio for SiriusXM, and you also own GQ’s Craft House. What don’t you do? But what else can you tell us about you as a DJ, producer, and entrepreneur, and what is it like to juggle these roles?
DJ GQ: It’s mad tiring, but as an artist and producer, I wanted to get that fusion between Reggae music and pop stuff, and that’s the direction that I’m going in, so my next couple of projects are going to be very Reggae infused with electronic pop records. And we just did a renovation here at GQ’s Craft House; we gave it a facelift because we’ve been open six years now, so I just wanted to do something fresh. And I’m trying to bring everything I’m doing together. We’re going to start doing a podcast here called “GQ’s LET EM KNOW” show, which will be aired on Bob Marley SiriusXM radio on channel 19. I’m starting it next month. I want to have a hub for GQ. Everything is going to be here, which will be easier to manage, easier to get across. So it’s tiring, but one day at a time, right?
Sophia Benz: Absolutely, and how did you get into DJing and producing? Was it something that you’ve always wanted to do or something that you sort of stumbled upon?
DJ GQ: So when I was young, my cousin who lived in Florida at the time started this little DJ crew, and in Jamaican culture, we have this thing called dubplates, where basically if you have a popular record, the artists will sing it back over with your name in it. So if Sean Paul sings, “We be burning,” he’ll instead sing, “GQ be burning, not concerning,” and re-sing the song with your name in it. So, since I had a connection to all of the big Reggae artists at the time, I used to get [my cousin] dubplates and send them to Miami for him. Back then, we were pressing it on vinyl so we could play our personalized stuff. And this was when I was like 14 to 15, and I was a promoter in Jamaica. I just used to have small parties at the time. But when I moved to Florida finally at 17, it hit me. I was like, “I just want to be a DJ,” it’s something I wanted to do. I worked at Tony Roma’s for two and a half hours and realized working a nine-to-five job wasn’t for me. So I quickly became a DJ. I hustled at it day and night. A friend of mine, his cousin was Harve Pierre, the former Vice President of Bad Boy Records, and one day in the late 90s, [Pierre] said, “Listen, if you can be in Atlanta in four hours, you can DJ Puffy’s album release party,” and I was like, “I’m there!” I jumped on the next flight and DJed that night and met 112, met Andre Rison, an all-pro football player for the Atlanta Falcons and the Pittsburgh Steelers. I did his retirement tour, and on his retirement tour, I met Akon, he was the opening act, and I became Akon’s DJ. Then when I got back to Miami, I became a resident DJ at Space, so I was a resident DJ at Space for a couple of
years. I met DMX around 2006, and he and I kicked it off. And before that, I was Kevin Lyttle’s DJ, and I toured the world with him twice when “Turn Me On” was a top 10 song in the world. And then, about 2009, I got onto Y100—that’s when radio started—and then about a year and change ago, Hollywood Hamilton hit me up, and he has the largest syndicated mix show in the country. It’s on 130 markets, and he was like, “Listen, I’d love you to be one of my new DJs,” so I did that, and I was doing that for a few months, and then he announced his retirement. So I’m not on 130 stations anymore. So now I’m on Y100, I do specialize mix shows in a couple of markets across the US, and I’m on Bob Marley radio on SiriusXM channel 19!
Sophia Benz: Wow, that’s great! And you used to be known as Miami’s Mixtape King. How and why did you get that nickname?
DJ GQ: So it’s funny because my friends around me used to call me that because I was cranking out these mixtapes 24/7. We hustled them all over the place, went to New York on Canal Street, and we’d sell it to the mixtape guys. But actually, I have a friend now. He was the real Miami’s Mixtape King back in the day because that was, I would say, his first staple name. I kind of got [that nickname] amongst my people and ran with it for a bit because it did well for me. Yeah, in the late 90s, I was heavy in the mixtape game. I had the first Akon-hosted mixtape, the first Baby from Cash Money-hosted mixtape, and a DMX-hosted mixtape. And we would go through tens of thousands of them, we sold crazy mixtapes back then, so it was definitely a stepping stone in music for me.
Sophia Benz: You mentioned this before as well, but you used to be a tour DJ for artists like Akon and DMX, so can you talk a bit about that experience of touring and working with these artists and how that differs from the work you’re doing now?
DJ GQ: Yeah, you know, I probably toured with Kevin Lyttle the most because we did MTV in five different countries, we grand launched MTV Romania—The Black Eyed Peas actually opened for us, and that was crazy—but touring is very hectic, and I hate it honestly! Touring is not cool, because every day we’re in another market, especially like the grassroots touring where you’re on a tour bus, and you have to sleep on the bus and everything, oh that’s just for the birds! But I don’t mind doing little mini tours where I can go for a couple of days or a week or whatever and come back. That’s not too bad. But being gone and on the road for like a month—it’s rough.
Sophia Benz: Yeah, it doesn’t seem super sustainable.
DJ GQ: It really isn’t. You get sick, and it’s hard on you: family life, running a business, all that stuff is crazy [when you’re touring].
Sophia Benz: How does that compare to what you’re doing now, being an entrepreneur and DJing and producing?
DJ GQ: Well, this is kind of crazy too, but the thing is, at least it’s crazy when you’re at home. At the end of the night, you can go to your own bed. And I have a two-year-old now, so being away from her too long is rough too.
Sophia Benz: Yeah, I’m sure!
DJ GQ: Trust me, it’s crazy. And I’m here. I still do a lot of dates. I was in Vegas last month, and I finished DJing at the Hard Rock that night, and minutes to 4 am, I caught a 5:30 am flight, landed at Vegas at like 9:30, DJed at 12, and at the end of the night I slept for a couple of hours—it was the first time I saw my bed in 40 hours—then I did the same thing the next day because it was two shows. It was a lovers and friends show with Ludacris and Usher. And I, on the way back, I actually got stuck in Houston and missed my flight, and I had to stay at the airport for 12 hours on a layover and didn’t even get back to the airport that I left from, so I was still like half an hour away from where my car was. Nightmare. But it happens!
Sophia Benz: So you still have some crazy traveling experiences! I guess you kind of mentioned this before as well, but how did you get the name GQ, and what does it mean?
DJ GQ: When when I moved to Miami, there was this one store that I always used to hang out at called Music Warehouse, and the dude who owned it, Tony, used to tease me in the shop and used to say, “Oh, you’re so cha-cha, you’re so preppy, you’re too uppity to be Jamaican,” and then he just screamed out GQ one time and everybody laughed, and it just stuck. That’s the short story.
Sophia Benz: Does it stand for anything now, GQ?
DJ GQ: No, not really. After that, everybody started joking around, calling me GQ. I just used it as my DJ name, but that was it. My real first name is Gary, so everybody thinks it might have something to do with Gary, but it doesn’t.
Sophia Benz: Oh yeah, because that’s what I would have probably assumed it was short for! And how does your DJ work differ from that of a producer? And is it is there one that you are focusing on more at the moment?
DJ GQ: Well, I’m cutting some of the DJing right now because I’m trying to stay home as much as possible because I want to focus on the production side of things right now. For years I’ve helped people work records—Mr. Vegas back in the day, Skip Marley. I do a whole bunch of consulting on record projects with The Marleys, but I want to focus more on myself right now, and on the music I’m putting out. So the project I dropped last year that charted on Billboard was actually the first project I’ve ever dropped by myself. So I’m working on another one now, and then there’s this super talented producer named JonFX, he produced Gyptian “Hold Yuh,” he used to produce for XXXTentacion, and we have been some collaborators that we’re doing. I have some unreleased DMX stuff that I’m working on right now. So these next few months, I will focus on more music. I’m still going to DJ, but maybe two to three times a week, instead of five to seven times a week. But you can always catch me at GQ Craft House on a Monday. That’s the one day, no matter what, I’m here day to night. I’m here right now talking to you!
Sophia Benz: Wow! So you’re half Chinese, half Cuban. I’m also mixed. I’m Japanese, Mexican/Spanish, and a little Ukrainian. So I like to call myself Hispanasian!
DJ GQ: I like that!
Sophia Benz: But anyway, does your mixed heritage influence your sound and style at all, and, if so, how do you bring these different cultures into your sound?
DJ GQ: They do, but I think the most influential part, funnily enough, is the Jamaican. I was born in Miami, but I moved to Jamaica at five [years old] because my dad had a business there, he was an engineer. My dad left Cuba at 15. My mom’s mother and dad are both Chinese, but he was only three-quarters Chinese, and she was full Chinese. Her family disowned her when she married my grandfather because he wasn’t fully Chinese. Which is crazy because you wouldn’t even be able to tell these days, his last name was Fung, and she was Chen-Luke. But my mother and father met in Miami, and he had business in Jamaica, so I moved to Jamaica when I was five, but because I graduated high school in Jamaica, I think that’s why Reggae is kind of the most dominant part of my life musically versus any form of Asian or on Cuban music influences.
Sophia Benz: Yeah, and as you said, you grew up in Jamaica, and it seems like your time there really influences your sound. Do you think it also influenced your career path? I’m sure GQ’s Craft House is also a nod to your time in Jamaica, right?
DJ GQ: You know what? GQ’s Craft House is very focused on craft beer. We have like 50 to 60 different craft beers at all times. We have Red Stripe and Guineas, a staple in Jamaica, or Dragon Stout, which is actually a Jamaican style and what we grew up seeing. Carib is a Trinidadian lager that we have, too, so we have island stuff going on here, but it’s a very open format. Everybody’s in here. You’ll see [people] from different walks of life. It’s a real easy-going bar.
Sophia Benz: That’s great! So do you think that growing up in Jamaica set you on this career path in terms of DJing, music, and production, especially regarding Reggae music?
DJ GQ: Yeah, it definitely set me up for that!
Sophia Benz: Speaking of GG’s Craft House, how did you go from DJing and producing music to owning a business? What made you transition to this, and what has that experience been like?
DJ GQ: Well, I was going through a thing a few years back where I wanted to hold onto something a little bit more tangible and start something, diversify. And I figured by owning a business like this, being in the business, it would be easy to advertise [music] and carry it on. I was going to go away bigger, and I was going to start something called GQ’s Rum Runners, and I was going to take on investment. But then I came to this little plaza in South Florida to cut my hair because my Barber had moved to this new plaza. And I was telling him what I was going to do, and he was like, “G, why don’t you get something in here?” And I looked at this small spot, and I was like, you know what, I wouldn’t even need investors; I could do this myself. And I decided to pull the trigger and just do my own thing, and I never looked back. I’m happy I did it instead of having partners and going through all this drama.
Sophia Benz: I feel like it can be a vehicle for live performances and music.
DJ GQ: Oh, yeah. Great platform.
Sophia Benz: And like you were mentioning, you have some projects coming out soon, I think an EP as well as that collaborative project with Jon FX, so can you talk a little bit more about that?
DJ GQ: Yeah, I have some prospective talent that I’m hoping will be on [the EP], but the for sure: Mr. Vegas, The Mad Stuntman, will definitely use him. I hope to work with one or two Marleys on this project, so I don’t want to say anything yet. I have a single with Jon FX, and I don’t know how much you know about Dancehall, but there is this artist named Vibes Cartel, and we have a record that’s going to come out in hopefully the next few weeks.
Sophia Benz: That’s amazing! As you said, you’re working with Jon X, you have this other project with Vibes Cartel and Jon FX, your EP may include one or two Marleys, and you also mentioned that you would be working with one other person.
DJ GQ: I believe Mr. Vegas and The Mad Stuntman. “I like to move it move it,” from “Madagascar.” And Mr. Vegas is another legendary Reggae artist that is my close friend. And actually, Kevin Lyttle may be on it, too, we’ve been talking about a single on the EP too, so Kevin Lyttle most likely will be on it, too. But we’re throwing it around, I started sending everybody tracks I produced and stuff, and now we are just trying to tie it all together.
Sophia Benz: Okay, great, you’re just finishing up all these different projects.
DJ GQ: Exactly. And I will do collabs. Some are finished, but they’re all in pieces.
Sophia Benz: With so much that you’re juggling, is there anything else coming up soon that folks ought to know about and that you’d like to share?
DJ GQ: Let me see, well, the music stuff, the DJing, that’s pretty much it!
Sophia Benz: Then stop by on Mondays at GQ’s Craft House if they want to meet you!
DJ GQ: Yeah! And just check me out at @DJGQworldwide on Instagram, on Twitter @DJGQ, and at DJGQ.com.
By Sophia Benz for Asiana Post