All About That PESO

An Atlanta native with a habit for getting money. During the course of this interview we will be going over what drives Peso. We will cover everything from his upbringing on Washington Road to his aspirations to ascend his past and current situations.

Teriel ( T ) How did you did you start making music?

Peso (P): Chuckles a bit** That’s a really good question, I started rapping because I wanted to get verified on Instagram.

T : Nah..

P : Yeah dead ass serious bro, my partner told me he knew a lot of rappers and I just told him I needed something to do. I realized that if I was verified I’d have a whole lot more opportunities. I had a home girl who could get me verified on IG, but the only way for me to get verified is if I was making music. So I called some of my friends who I knew rapped and asked them what’s the quickest way to learn how to rap, and they told me that I needed to hire some writers, some engineers, some producers and go to full studios.

I went out and did all of this and it so happened that the producer that I had was working with OTF at the time.  I got a lot of good feedback from social media when I posted the song clip on my IG. I already had a decent amount of followers so I figured why not do this thing for real. I’ve been rapping ever since then.

T: Speaking of songs, I heard “Freak” recently and I loved it

P: Yeah I wrote that by myself. I don’t have writers anymore, I used the writers in the beginning to help me find my flow and help me find the beats that I like.

T: How long did it take you to write “Freak”?

P: Like 2 hours, I actually have 2 versions.

T: Are you thinking about releasing the other version?
P: Nah, I won’t release the other version because there is an issue with the rights to the beat. My producer sold the beat to someone in the OTF camp. This made me have to go back and rewrite the entire song.

T: I read that you were just coming home back in February 2020, around that time as you may know the pandemic had just hit. Can you explain to me if the pandemic helped you in your journey into the rap game?

P: I mean to be honest with you it didn’t help me or hurt me at all. I been rich before rap, that’s what landed me in prison. When I came home from the feds I had some money saved up that helped me, after that the pandemic didn’t help much. A lot of folks took advantage of the opportunities that were available to them during that time. It wouldn’t make any sense for me to come home from prison and taking such stupid risks. I just stayed close to my mentor who works at SONY who helped me utilize the money I had saved to guide me in this rap thing.

T: That’s a cold decision to make during a time where folks are out here getting money during the pandemic. I think it speaks volumes about you as a man to take your life in an entirely new direction.

P: To be honest with you bro, a lot of these people who are out here rapping most of them have never been to prison. So they’ve never really lost it all so they can play games like that. But any rapper that has been to prison they carry themselves differently because they understand what can be lost if they play the wrong games. I got kids so I can’t really play those types of games.

T: I heard the little one in the background

P: Yeah man my son is still getting use to people walking up on me in public now that my music has been buzzing.

T: So what part of Atlanta are you from?
P: I’m from the south side of Atlanta. If you listen to my songs you’ll hear me reference 4500 a lot, that’s the block that I’m from on Washington Road.

T: Does that influence the direction of your music?
P: I don’t know. I mean I just started rapping. I don’t really focus on any of the other Atlanta rappers. I just speak on what I know, and what I done experienced. I don’t really like to speak on some of the negative stuff that has happened on 4500.

T: When I said does it influence your music I was more asking did the lifestyle influence your music? Were you getting money out on Washington Road?
P: I wasn’t getting any money on Washington Road. I ain’t going to lie to you like most folks would. I wasn’t getting any money which is why I left. That’s how I ended up in prison which helped me learn about life. This is why I was telling you that it was negative. My whole time there was a negative time in my life. However, my team has been telling me that I should rap about some of the stuff that happened during that time. I’m thinking about it and I haven’t decided yet.

T: So right now you’re buzzing have you been approached by any record labels as of yet?
P: I mean if they had I haven’t heard of it. My man special handles all of that, he brought something to my attention from Sony or Universal. But outside of that I haven’t heard anything. I don’t he’s really interested in any deals. I think he’s going to push me all the way to Sony. I don’t care who I sign to, as long as the deal is straight and I get $2.5 million.  I need 2.5 million because as soon as I get my deal I need to throw $200k in the strip club. I can’t sign for no little money because it’s going to get blown too fast. I’m a brother from the Southside of Atlanta. Anybody that knows anything knows that I ain’t never really had nothing. So when I do get some money I’m going to knock something off of my bucket list.

Right now I don’t even have a record deal and I already got all of the foreign cars, a fancy house, I got jewelry, I got a presidential.

T: That’s interesting because before this interview I went to your Instagram to look at a few of your posts and saw that you had a lot of nice things.

P: That’s what I’m saying, I already have everything. I’m not pressed for nothing. I’m not one of these starving artists out here. That’s why whoever comes my way label wise has to come my way on my terms.

If you look at my Instagram right now, I’m so well kept that I don’t put a lot on there. If you notice that I don’t have my cars, or any pics of the inside of my house. I just put enough to let people know that I’m having and that I’m up. I only post pictures when I’m out and about at an event or I’m in the studio.

T: That’s funny because as I was preparing for this interview, I noticed that you didn’t have any personal photos up or anything like that. I do understand that in this era of rap that this is probably for the best.

P: I won’t even really say that because like I said I was making a lot of money back in the day, that was one of my downfalls when I went to prison. In Atlanta you see the news about so many shootings and things like that so the last thing I want is to be immediately recognizable. I have 10k likes on a photo or 10k people watching my story so I don’t have time for people to be like “oh that’s Peso’s car”. I don’t feel like a celebrity so I don’t act like one. I’m just a normal dude.

T: So I hear you have an album on the way, when are we going to get that album and what is it sounding like so far? And what type of vibes you trying to give us?

P: Yeah, Still Shining. It’s all getting money songs that’s about it. I’m about to put it all in my tape, I might start talking about my past and about what I was coming up. I want people to get to know Peso. I’m already certified in Atlanta, people know me. It’s no question. I’m just going to talk about what I did, and what’s going on. And talk that get money stuff because in the end that’s what people want to hear. I don’t want anyone to say oh “oh Peso makes depressing music”, Nah homeboy. I make music that’s gone make you want to get up and hustle. Just look I just came home from a 22 month bid, if I can do it you can do it.

T: So while you were in prison did you come up with this idea to rap there?

P: Not even, when I was in prison I was just chilling. I was just focused on trying to make it back home to my kids. When I got out of prison, I had about 4-5 people to help me figure out what I was about to do. I thought rapping was for weirdos.

T: When I read your bio I loved your story because it just seems like you have a strong mind already on how you want to be in this game.

P: Yeah man, I ain’t in this rap thing to make friends or to be beefing. I’m here to make money. I’m as realistic as they come. You’ll never see Peso on Instagram arguing or anything like that. People ask me about artist all the time and I just tell them that I don’t know because I don’t know who is in their camp. I only care about the people in my camp. People are asking me if I’m performing at birthday bash (Hot 107.9 Birthday Bash) and I told them no because it wouldn’t help my streams. Doing Birthday Bash wouldn’t help me out nor doing any other little shows. I’m trying to put myself and my camp in the best position possible. I’m not even trying to do too much. I just want to make a million dollars and call it a day.

T: How many more projects do you think you’re going to put out? And also when they say Peso what do you want people to think of immediately?

P: Project wise, I want to make as much music as I can; I told my camp I want to take the Roddy Ricch approach to my music. He released his album a year and a half almost two years ago. I feel like I want to take that approach and not release as much music as the next artist. As far as for myself I just want people to say that’s a real nigga right there. He’s a real one that’s it. I just want people to see that I’m a standup guy. This is what I want my kids to be able to see. I don’t want to be on the news for beating up people at the club or I’m in a shootout. I do this or my kids. I want people to be able to say that he ain’t never did no wrong to nobody.

Peso’s name isn’t simply just a name, it’s something that he lives by. He want’s only money and to be recognized as a standup guy. A man of honor and of great respect. It was an honor to speak to someone who is so ambitious and clear minded. Should he gain all of the money that he wishes to acquire in this world there is no doubt in my mind that he will continue to produce good music for years to come.