DJ Quik - The Midnight Life (Discussion Thread)

[TRAX (SFV)]

Meh, it's OK.  Suga Free's verses were not the best on this either.

"I'm so cold I nut ice cream".  haha classic. 

[Davizz]

Props for the credits, I will recieve my copy in the next days from Amazon.. I'm still waiting to listen to it in cdq!!!
Good to see Rob Bacon is on "Quik's Groove 9" too.

Regarding album sales, they really don't matter no more... 5k, 10k.. it's all a shame, the industry is collapsing... props to Quik for doing another album!

[MOBNigga06]

Quik sold 5.000 units...these muthafuckers only consider itunes, amazon, best buy..

Quik sold at least more 10.000 units in California small stores...fyi..amoeba..and etc..


FINAL BILLBOARD NUMBERS...(doubtful) but the info is here...

DJ Quik - Midnight Life = 5100 units.

Billboard 200 - #63
Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums - #11
Top Rap Albums - #7
Independent Albums - #11
Tastemakers - #9

Virtually the same positions of The Book of David, but less units sold...

The industry is fucked up...no one got platinum this year...in 20years records sales will end.

The numbers aren't bad by today's standards. Between the physical copies sold, the iTunes sales, and the live performances, Quik is probably making a good deal of his money back.

[k1000]

the only song i like is Broken Down. That N-word's Crazy has been musically ruined. Still listen to the live version though.

[makaveliapostle]

just in case anyone wanted to see quik's thank you's:

http://www.4shared.com/photo/DQVI2X1qce/IMG_5954.html

i found it interesting that his son played the keys and programmed the drums for "that getter" and "shine."  also thought it was kool that eboni foster (from the death row background vocal days) was featured on "the conduct."  and he thanked dave aron (also from the death row engineering days who still tours with snoop as his front of house engineer). 

[westside159]

This album is garbage real talk , i took another listen today and it's confirmed for me . Maybe 2 or 3 alright songs and the rest is pure nonsense .  The midnight Life is his worst album by far . Book Of David was kinda wack too .
Quik lost his mojo and creativity in his beats and his lyrics are boring and lame .

[Will_B]

What u said but Quik rarely sounds like he's enjoying himself with rappin (rather than boring/lame)

BOD was angry but it was coherent and had a focused energy to it

[doggfather]

hiphopdx said this: http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/album-reviews/id.2368/title.dj-quik-the-midnight-life

[AlerG]

hiphopdx said this: http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/album-reviews/id.2368/title.dj-quik-the-midnight-life

I agree with some of their points. I'm still trying to figure out how I rank this album. Listened to it through 3 times thus far.

[Soopafly DPGC]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned this, but the whole "groove" thing is a little much.  I love the Quik's grooves and think those should continue on.  But this one's got Bacon's groove, and El's Interlude.  Plus an entire song Quik isn't even on.  I'm not really interested in hearing a bacon's groove and an El's interlude on every album though.  I did like the Divorce Song that El did on Balance and Options but this interlude is really nothing.  Other than that, this album's awesome.  5 or 6 songs from there are on repeat like crazy.  Pet Sematary and Broken Down are my two favorites.  The Conduct and Puffin the Dragon are great too.  Glad Quik brought the talkbox back on the Conduct.  That song sounds like it came straight from 1996, and that's a good thing!  That Niggaz Crazy and Fuck All night are just a notch below those, but still awesome.  Like everyone else, not feeling the D Blake II songs, but i'm not really into the 'new sounding' rap these days.  Probably just a notch below Book of David due to so many filler songs, but still worth a buy for sure.  Too bad he couldn't get a PPC reunion on this one, he's had Playa Hamm and now Tweed Cadillac on separate songs, just gotta get them together.  Glad he's still got Suga Free on his albums, I wish Street Gospel II would drop.    

[Matty]

ok listened to it front to back enough times now, short review:

its a dj quik album so i like it. unless dude goes deaf and forgets how to mix and produce records i am always going to like it. the record sounds super sharp and clear and he's doing a lot of different sounds on this one. gotta say from the getgo i still prefer book of david. track by track -

that n****r's crazy - live version was awesome, album version ruined by the singing in the background, really gets in the way and can't hear quik properly at a few points. crazy in a bad way, shame cause the rest of the track is gold.

back that shit up - really dope. if quik is gonna do the 808 beats then i'm fine when they sound like this, loads of bounce and funky sounds. david jr seems to fit in well with the goofy delivery.

trapped on the tracks - don't like it, it's another 808 beat but instead of being bouncy and funky it's this monotone kind of grind. too downtempo for me.

els interlude 2 - it's like a whole new record just came on, this is just a tease. maybe the nicest 40 seconds on the album, super smooth sounds, conga drums, guitar licks and that classic debarge vocal.

puffin the dragon - whole other level to the earlier tracks - mature, cinematic sounding banger with mellow piano, crisp drum track. quik raps sharply, more introspective. classic one here.

pet semetary - west coast sounds, booming bass, horns, guitar licks. that jazzy r&b number, trademark quik. awsome track.

life jacket - interesting beat, quik's verse is great but the rest seems a bit all over. dom kennedy raps a dope verse but would have sounded better on one of the other tracks. i woulda prefered it as an instrumental, the sounds are kinda overpowering.

that getter - dark, gloomy beat, shits sounding nice. quik drops a great verse, one of his best on the album. david jr i'm not feeling so much on this one.

the conduct - sounds great, again the sounds are kinda all over the place but it works this time. big jazzy, funky beat, heavy drums and voicebox/guitar are sweet as.

shine - dope for this type of beat. real eerie and mellow, not sure david jr does it justice, a lot of rappers would have killed this.

bacon's groove - classic guitar, not sure about the bass that comes in and out, but it's still super smooth.

broken down - crisp, funky instrumental. nothing seems off here, suga free is alot better than on life jacket. the whole thing is funky and jamming.

why did you have to lie - nice enough, smooth joint but doesn't really grab me.

fuck all night - easily one of the best instrumentals, everything comes together perfectly. top track.

quiks groove 9 - crisp drum track with rob bacon jammin', dope way to end the album.

summary - it's nice but i much prefer the book of david, which itself wasn't quite on the level of his best LPs (though very strong). quite a few tracks just don't sound right to me, kinda to do with the mixing and the way it's blending together. there are a handful that really work (puffin, pet semetary, broken down, fuck all night) but the rest it's not really hitting the spot. overall i preferred the sounds on blaqkout or book of david. it definitely has more in common with the former, with the variance in quality. the annoying thing is how the last album there was g-one, this time time it's rob bacon/el debarge...the thing i wanna hear most is quik relinking with these dudes for a whole record. el's interlude sounds like a teaser for a potential rhythmalism 2. it's annoying when you have to cherrypick the best tracks and he's going off on these directions that don't work so well.

rating 7/10 - great sounding record but not a classic and far from quik's strongest. like will said, book of david was more coherent and this feels like a step down. and it's obvious quik hates the internet comments, but dude should chill, we're all gonna like different records more than others...

[Eddz]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned this, but the whole "groove" thing is a little much.  I love the Quik's grooves and think those should continue on.  But this one's got Bacon's groove, and El's Interlude.  Plus an entire song Quik isn't even on.  I'm not really interested in hearing a bacon's groove and an El's interlude on every album though.  I did like the Divorce Song that El did on Balance and Options but this interlude is really nothing.  Other than that, this album's awesome.  5 or 6 songs from there are on repeat like crazy.  Pet Sematary and Broken Down are my two favorites.  The Conduct and Puffin the Dragon are great too.  Glad Quik brought the talkbox back on the Conduct.  That song sounds like it came straight from 1996, and that's a good thing!  That Niggaz Crazy and Fuck All night are just a notch below those, but still awesome.  Like everyone else, not feeling the D Blake II songs, but i'm not really into the 'new sounding' rap these days.  Probably just a notch below Book of David due to so many filler songs, but still worth a buy for sure.  Too bad he couldn't get a PPC reunion on this one, he's had Playa Hamm and now Tweed Cadillac on separate songs, just gotta get them together.  Glad he's still got Suga Free on his albums, I wish Street Gospel II would drop.    

This pretty much sums it up for me too. Album is a bit short with the intro & all the songs without Quik rapping on. A solid album but a notch under Book of David for me.

[Mr. Theo]

ok listened to it front to back enough times now, short review:

its a dj quik album so i like it. unless dude goes deaf and forgets how to mix and produce records i am always going to like it. the record sounds super sharp and clear and he's doing a lot of different sounds on this one. gotta say from the getgo i still prefer book of david. track by track -

that n****r's crazy - live version was awesome, album version ruined by the singing in the background, really gets in the way and can't hear quik properly at a few points. crazy in a bad way, shame cause the rest of the track is gold.

back that shit up - really dope. if quik is gonna do the 808 beats then i'm fine when they sound like this, loads of bounce and funky sounds. david jr seems to fit in well with the goofy delivery.

trapped on the tracks - don't like it, it's another 808 beat but instead of being bouncy and funky it's this monotone kind of grind. too downtempo for me.

els interlude 2 - it's like a whole new record just came on, this is just a tease. maybe the nicest 40 seconds on the album, super smooth sounds, conga drums, guitar licks and that classic debarge vocal.

puffin the dragon - whole other level to the earlier tracks - mature, cinematic sounding banger with mellow piano, crisp drum track. quik raps sharply, more introspective. classic one here.

pet semetary - west coast sounds, booming bass, horns, guitar licks. that jazzy r&b number, trademark quik. awsome track.

life jacket - interesting beat, quik's verse is great but the rest seems a bit all over. dom kennedy raps a dope verse but would have sounded better on one of the other tracks. i woulda prefered this as an instrumental, the sounds are kinda overpowering.

that getter - dark, gloomy beat. shits sounding nice, quik drops a great verse, one of his best on the album. david jr i'm not feeling so much on this one.

the conduct - sounds great, again the sounds are kinda all over the place but it works this time. big jazzy, funky beat, heavy drums and voicebox/guitar are sweet as.

shine - dope beat for this type of beat. real eerie and mellow, not sure david jr does it justice, a lot of rappers would have killed this.

bacon's groove - classic guitar, not sure about the bass that comes in and out, but it's still super smooth.

broken down - crisp, funky instrumental. nothing seems off here, suga free works way better than on life jacket, the whole thing is super funky and jamming.

why did you have to lie - nice enough, smooth joint but doesn't really grab me.

fuck all night - easily one of the best instrumentals, everything comes together perfectly. top track.

quiks groove 9 - crisp drum track with rob bacon jammin', dope way to end the album.

summary - it's nice but i much prefer the book of david, which itself wasn't quite on the level of his best LPs (though very strong). quite a few tracks just don't sound right to me, kinda to do with the mixing and the way it's blending together. there are a handful that really work (puffin, pet semetary, broken down, fuck all night) but the rest it's not really hitting the spot. overall i preferred the sounds on blaqkout or book of david. it definitely has more in common with the former, with the variance in quality. the annoying thing is how the last album there was g-one, this time time it's rob bacon/el debarge...the thing i wanna hear from quik more than anything is relinking with these dudes for a whole record. el's interlude feels like a teaser for that type of thing. it's annoying when you have to cherrypick the best tracks and he's going off on these directions that don't work so well.

rating 7/10 - great sounding record but not a classic and far from quik's strongest. a step down from the book of david. like will said, it was more coherent sounding. and it's obvious quik hates the internet comments, but dude should chill, we're all gonna like different records more than others...

Great Matty!!

Let's see how "Midnight Life'' it will sound in three years.

[Davizz]

3 years from now people will say his 10th album is not on the level of The Midnight Life.

I really think this is better than BoD and Blaqkout... it's just my opinion but:
- Quik's original voice is finally back... try to hear this album and then the others, you will hear the difference.
- Quik ain't scared no more to sound really funky, I mean roger-troutman-funky.. in terms of lyrics and beats (Broken Down, That N Crazy and The Conduct for example).

[Soopafly DPGC]

Is Quik dissing AMG on "The Conduct"?  There's a line at the end talking about people bragging they're "Ballin Outta Control" but then work at a train station and have to reapply for their job every year.  I know AMG's album was titled "Ballin Outta Control", so I thought it might have been a jab at him.