Atlanta rap newcomer Que takes special care when coming up with song concepts. The man responsible for the bubbling trap hit “OG Bobby Johnson”—LeBron’s pre-game anthem—inspired by the classic film South Central, refuses to force creativity when it’s not there. On his intriguing upcoming mixtape Who Is Que?, he pulls inspiration from everywhere: nursery rhymes, YouTube, a Spike Lee joint.
“Most of my music comes from vibes,” reveals the raspy-voiced 23-year-old. “If the vibe ain’t right I’ll just chill for a minute instead of try to force it. Because when you try to make a hit, nine times out of 10, you’re not even going to come out with half a hit. I just have fun with it.”
While the Atlantic Records signee is tightlipped about the remix to “OG Bobby Johnson”—”It’s going to be a big surprise,” he insists—he’s still hard at work on the feature-light Who Is Que?, which is slated for a mid-February release. Sitting in a glass-walled conference room in VIBE’s NYC headquarters, Que gives a preview to his first full-length introduction to the world. —John Kennedy
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Jungle Fever
“It’s about trying to pull a white stripper from Club Cheetah. You familiar with Club Cheetah? My homeboy actually threw the idea at me just playing around. A lot of my songs come up because we joke a lot. So a lot of jokes we say we’ll be like, oh shit, that would be hot in a song. TM88 produced it.” -
Side Hustle
“It’s midtempo, more melodic than just rapping like ‘OG Bobby Johnson.’ It’s actually about a woman with a boyfriend but she got a side piece. I’m like her side hustle. Only time she calls is when she wanna do this. Only time I see her is when she wanna do that. I’m her side hustle. And I’m fine with that.” -
Time
“That’s another one that we just came up with at the house, just talking having fun. You remember Sweet Georgia Brown? ‘Ain’t nobody got time for that.’” -
TLP
“This Little Piggy. [Laughs] It’s a funny story but there’s a moral. You get some real shit I’m saying. ‘This little piggy was a pimp, this little piggy sold drugs/This little piggy snitched on this little piggy/because he was the plug.’ The moral of the story: If you’re going to do something, do it by yourself. ‘The moral of the story: Fuck these niggas/The moral of the story: I don’t trust these niggas.’ If you gon’ do something, do it on your own.” -
Jump
“Basically me just saying I’m the same person from the jump. Still hanging with the same people, still doing the same things. Only thing that changed is the women. Throughout the verses I’m playing with the word ‘jump.’ Any phrase that has the word ‘jump’ in it I’m using: jump rope, jump suit—fucking around with the wordplay.”