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interview DJ QUIK & KURUPT (BLAQKOUT) (May 2009) | Interview By: Jose Ho-Guanipa

Dubcnn recently linked up with two legends that have recently joined up to release a collaboration album together for an exclusive video interview: DJ Quik & Kurupt are getting ready to release the eagerly anticipated "BlaQKout" album in June and took time over a competitive game of pool to discuss their musical union and what they wanted to acheive with the record. We discuss the two singles Hey Playa! and Whatcha Wanna Do as well as the inspiration behind another record F-ck Y'all. Both Quik & Kurupt discuss the live aspect of their music including Quik using an orchestra during live shows and also tell us about Terrace Martin's input on the production of the album.


We have the transcript below however we urge you to also check out the video as well as it really gives a flavor of how well these two vibe and how it reflects when they record. Leave feedback on our forums or email them to jose@dubcnn.com.

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Interview was conducted in April 2009
 
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Related Media
DJ Quik & Kurupt - Hey Playa!
DJ Quik & Kurupt - Whatcha Wanna Do Feat. Problem & Yo-Yo

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DJ Quik & Kurupt (BlaQKout) // Exclusive Video Interview // Dubcnn


Download The Video Interview: Windows Media
Download The Dubcnn Drop: Windows Media

Press Play to stream footage (Fast Connections Recommended)

..........................................................................................


Dubcnn: What’s up y’all its Jose of Dubcnn we’re here with Blaqkout. It’s Kurupt and Quik. And of course Vegognatti, Kurupt’s cuz. And we’re just chillin’ here man playin’ pool, you know, just kickin’ it. These are two West Coast legends.

Kurupt: Doin’ it man, and doin’ it big and enjoying it.

Quik: we gon’ have a problem nephew. I’mma whoop your ass, I feel bad about it.

Kurupt: See what’s goin’ on is me and Quik’s nephew is playing right against Quik and Quik seems like he’s finnin’ ta take his pampers off and whoop him.

Quik: Seem like it? I’m already doing it! I wanna forfeit the game because I’mma do it.


Dubcnn: First off I wanna thank you guys for the exclusive digital drops you guys gave us for “What You Wanna Do” and “Moroccan Blues”, that was sick and those were great tracks, I loved them.

Kurupt: Thank you very much.


Dubcnn: So I guess we’ll get to the questions and start talkin’. First off, what’s the situation with the label? Which label are you releasing it on?

Quik: We’re releasing it on Mad Science/Fontana.


Dubcnn: So that’s your label. Do you think it’s a better experience compared to working with a major label?

Quik: It’s different. It’s always two different experiences. You take on more work when you’re the label. So obviously we gotta work a little harder, but at the same time when the record’s a success you get to have more control in the project. And that’s better than anything else to me.


Dubcnn: So I was looking at your MySpace and you said you’re doing sheet music. Can you tell me about that? What’s up with that?

Quik: Well yeah, Jeff Gallego he transcribed some of my music for the orchestra to play at a show I did at the Grove a couple months ago.


Dubcnn: So you’re gonna have symphonies playing Quik music?

Quik: Yeah.

Kurupt: Ain’t that good?


Dubcnn: That’s sick, that’s a good deal man. So how did you guys link up? I know you guys were working on the Snoop album and you just vibed.

Quik: Yeah that’s what happened.


Dubcnn: How did you decide, “I wanna work with this dude and we wanna do a project”?

Kurupt: Well you know we was workin’ on “Ego Trippin’” Snoop’s album. Unk brought it to the table like, “You know what Kurupt, we could do this.” Also I told Unk, “People are waiting for you, it’s time to drop some of that new shit.”

Quik: I’m whoopin’ his ass!

Kurupt: “It’s time for that new Quik man, everybody wanna hear you, you’re relevant.” And you know, he was just like, “I really gotta feel for this music right now,” and I was just like, “Ain’t no music without gettin’ on that mic because you’re a relevant force in this ballgame.”

Quik: Thank you man. ‘Cause you know I was like semi-retired and I didn’t wanna rap no more. And Snoop was like, “You can’t do that Quik, what are you thinking about? Stop being lazy, whatever you on. Get off of it nigga, get over it and get back to work. They wanna hear you.”

Kurupt: No shit. So you know Quik came to me. Me and Quik and Terrace , Terrace Martin, we was all throwin’ ideas, workin’ on the album, you know just throwin’ things, Unk came up with something like, “You know what Kurupt we could do a whole project together,” and I was like, “You know what let’s make that happen.” Ya dig? It was all talk at first, ideas flying and flowin’, you know what I’m sayin’ and then Unk was just like, “You know what I got the studio set up, let’s go in here and knock it out.” We went in. Game over.

Quik: Yeah, real quick too, it was like the album didn’t take a long time to do the record. It was kind of fun. And we had a theme, our theme was to black out. Our theme was to just black out and do a record that we like. You know some fun shit; a little different. We could easily go gangsta rap, simply, but we already know, everybody knows that gangsta rap is hard to sell these days. People wanna hear much more than just that and plus the negative affects you in a negative way too.

Kurupt: And plus you know with the gangsta rap, we always gonna do gangsta rap. That’s what me and Unk is. But we decided on this album right here to do something different that what they expected us to do.

Quik: More accessible, something for kids to dance to. We like to see kids dancing to “Exodus”.

Kurupt: Yeah, you know what I mean and havin’ a ball gettin’ they groove on. ‘Cause you know me and Quik we on a different page, both of us, in our lives as men, as well as in this ballgame of music. The average is just what it is, it’s average. We tryin’ to step above the grid. We tryin’ to make music that’s something you wouldn’t expect from us. Some things you would, but something you really wouldn’t expect from us. We tryin’ to drive the whole ballgame in the West Coast up to a different level. Higher expectations for what you gonna release. You can always do the same thing that people are used to you doing, but to take that chance and that step above that is more the line that me and Unk is tryin’ to push. He stepped his game up musically and lyrically we both stepped our game up. We hittin’ them with concepts, we not just hittin ‘them wit the same old fuck a bitch. We ain’t hittin’ them with the same old dry bullshit. We steppin’ our ballgame up, we takin’ chances. And we gon’ give y’all a great album. Unk put his foot in the music and we both put our foot in these lyrics right here man. You understand me, doin’ it big. Ya dig?


Dubcnn: Is Unk Terrace?

Quik: He call me Unk.


Dubcnn: My bad, I wanna talk about Terrace. How did he get involved in the project as far as production? Because I know you usually take care of most the production.

Kurupt: Well you know Quik did all of the production and T-Mac put his hands in there as he does, to step it up. Quik and Terrace is a great and powerful musical force. I mean when they get together ain’t no telling where the music is gonna go. Quik could’ve done it all by himself but there was certain records he did that he was like, “Yo T-Mac come over and throw some of your flavor on here”. ‘Cause that’s what we do. We keep it al in the family. DJ Quik, T-Mac Terrace Martin and Kurupt Young Gotti. We got a new team here man and this is just the beginning of the records that we plan on releasing as a team and we just hope people like it and enjoy it, you dig what I’m sayin? One of my favorite albums on the record is “Appealin’’’ because its just real talk of business situations that we go through in our real lives. It means a lot when you hear it. It’s one of the last records on the album. I hope people can bug out to it and enjoy it. It’s something you gonna wanna sit down smoke something good to, sip a little bit of that brown cognac or some of that good patron, relax out and hear some grown man shit, ya dig?


Dubcnn: I listened to “Watch You Wanna Do?” and “Moroccan Blues” and they sound kind of Middle Eastern. Where’d you get that influence from?

Quik: Both of them huh? Well “What You Really Wanna Do” is original. “Moroccan Blues” is a sample from Andrew Zimern’s cooking show Bizarre Foods.

Kurupt: That’s what they don’t know. Tell ‘em that again man it’s a cooking show homie. Music come from everywhere. Tell ‘em again Unk.

Quik: Yeah it’s from the Morocco episode from the Bizarre Foods show with Andrew Zimern from the Travel Channel. They went to go eat in a Tangine restaurant in north morocco. The food inspires that music and the music inspires that food. I can’t wait, after making that music, and makin’ a hit record from just sampling the resident musician in the restaurant, now I gotta go eat at the restaurant.

Kurupt: I’mma tell you like this, you dig man? Look at this man. Music is everywhere, inspiration come from all different facets of the ball game you dig what I’m sayin’, and I’m gonna let you know here shout out to all our Moroccan fans out there. ‘Cause a lot of people don’t know when you’re worldwide that means you’re all over the world, ya dig, and your game is wide. So you know we want to give a shout out to all our Moroccan folks out there. Thanks for all the support we love you. All these years, you understand me, cause I’ve gotten invitations to come to Morocco man and do some big things because you know the Moroccan fans love us and we love you too you dig what I’m talkin’ about ,so we wanna give a shout out to the Moroccan folks and that record “Hey Playa (Moroccan Blues)” that’s for you.


Dubcnn: This one’s for Quik. Can you briefly talk about the record F-ck y’all?

Quik: okay just get me makin’ this shot. Awww, look at that, now it’s gonna be a bad answer. What was that?


Dubcnn: Just talk about the record “Fuck Y’all”.

Quik; Okay what about it?


Dubcnn: What’s the inspiration?

Quik: The music’s the inspiration. The hook is something everybody wants to say but don’t know how to say it. So to me it’s fun to perform that record because you give the audience a chance to just get it off they chest. ‘Cause some people want to say it to some people because people annoy people. Some people are annoying, some people are overzealous, especially in certain circles, they kinda think they can approach me any which way because I’m a celebrity. Some people don’t know that they’re rubbing me the wrong way or they’re ribbing me or that they’re being disrespectful or annoying. So I just did the record because basically I want to say fuck y’all to some people and I said it. When we perform it live I let the audience say “fuck you” to me, I’m like, “Y’all can give it up to me,” and they be like, “F-ck y’all!” at me. You know let it out, it’s just a word you know. But when you take it further that’s a different thing. That’s why the word’s like, “Go fuck yourself”.

Kurupt: Ey, go f-ck yourself ey, you f-ckin’ stewie. Ey with a cucumber and a carrot okay? Get the f-ck outta here.

Quik: And hopefully the people that I said f-ck you to at the end of the record use that as motivation to go out and achieve. They gotta know that they’re on my mind. ‘Cause I invested a lot of time and effort into these guys being celebrities and they squandered their fame.

Quik: Oh I’m back to droppin’ em. I’m bout’ to kill him now, he’s in trouble. Come on back here walk back here baby.


Dubcnn: So how are the live shows? Just you two on stage.

Quik: I mean we’re celebrities, we hip-hop legends.

Kurupt; Nah me and Quik’s groove. We did that “Anniversary”, it’s called “Do You Know” where we flipped that Toni Toni Toni “Anniversary”. You gotta peep it cause we dos this. And you know it was great. I felt like bringing a chair out, sitting the chair down, light up a blunt instead of a cigarette ‘cause you know I am Gotti Sinatra, they call me Gotstra. I was going Sinatra on these guys man. I was like, “Zoo zoo zoo baby,” and just go straight to it because the music, and this is how I know it was true, we was in Honolulu, we did “Anniversary” and the mood in the entire thing changed into such a mature and grown aura and that’s what “Anniversary” does to you.

Quik: First of all it’s good music.

Kurupt: And after Quik’s groove we had the live band, so you can just imagine that flavor and vibe there but we will be coming to you soon with a live concert with me and uncle Quik strictly for the internet world to make ya’ll swirl to it. So be lookin’ for that comin’ up the Blaqkout live internet performance we’ll be comin’ out with that soon and you can feel the vibe yourself and smoke out like this.

Quik: If I could just add to that, yeah we had fun in Honolulu and Honolulu performing that record. Like he said it’s sedate like the music is relaxing so people just kinda enjoyed it. And they was dancing to it like they heard it their whole lives. It was familiar to ‘em. And as any artist that’s the best compliment you can get from the audience, for them to appreciate your song upon hearing it the first time.

Quik: And you do know that don’t you. You bet you.


Dubcnn: Y’all have travelled around the world and everywhere and stuff. Where’s the best weed you’ve smoked? I gotta ask you.

Kurupt: I’mma tell you like this man, Amsterdam I love y’all to death, but y’all need some of these Kush seeds ya dig. Cause y’all weed, y’all got abundance, you got quantity, but you don’t got quality. Me and Daz got this thing, we might be goin’ out there takin’ a couple of these Kush seeds out there so we can start getting’ some Kush in Amsterdam, you dig what I’m talkin’ about, cause y’all need it in your life. The best smoke Humboldt County baby, you understand what I’m talking about man, where the grass is always greener and the indo is meaner nephew, you know what I’m talking about.

Quik: Connoisseur. I can’t smoke.

Kurupt: Oh yeah, see my unk I gotta take care of him cause you know what I’m sayin’ peoples is watching him. You know what you see that I wanted to show you that to see that he is being responsible. Now get of his dick.

Quik: Can’t smoke.

Kurupt: But you know what I’m sayin’ this is the best bomb right here man, this is called California Classic. We got the OG Kush we got the Purp, we got the Haze, but the OG Kush is some of the best to me. We got the Afghan, stick it in your ass; you understand what I’m talking about man? So you know the best indo and the best smoke come from the only coast, the best coast, the coast with the most, the West Coast. And don’t you forget it ya bet you.

Quik: Any more questions about the record?


Dubcnn: Yeah, just a couple more. You guys have a little bit different styles on your own. How did you manage to blend that and make the album work?

Quik: I think familiarity is important, familiarity. And we both grew up on SSL consoles. So I think just the fact that we had SSL channel inputs in our racks, just to see it and hear that sound takes us back to the heyday of recording. I think if we just did it by Pro Tools and it was just a different environment altogether I don’t know how much I would’ve liked the album upon completion. We’re SSL kids so we just put SSLs on our racks and it takes us back to “Can Am”, it takes you back to before we were mixing “All Eyez on Me” it takes you back to the fun, it takes you back to “Dogg Food”.

Kurupt: And plus you know this album taught us something man. That’s what so great about our record man because you know what it wasn’t just about making an album. We learned so much off of the experience of putting this album together and making the album like Unk perfected this Pro Tools game and he got it so to a perfection right now he could teach a class ya dig? And it’s like me I learned how to do these Pro Tools off of this session. I learned all kinds of tricks of the trade for Pro Tools. Now I’m recording myself at the house, I got the full blown crackin’ at the house I records myself you understand me man and do it way big. I got portable pro tools. I got the mic in my car, I got the stand in the car, I got the Apple Mac in the car with the Pro Tools you understand me man. I could go in the bathroom man and make a record at the mother f-ckin’ local 7-11, ya dig me man? I’m in there man. So it was just a great thing man. We learned things off of this experience, we made the best music up to date for ourselves and we plan on doing this a long time Quik and Kurupt man doing the albums. Every year you can expect a DJ Quik and Kurupt collaborated album which is gonna be historical for the West Coast and also historical for ourselves man because you know we all we got.

Quik: Especially if we got Richie Abbott involved. Richie legitimizes this whole thing cause this could’ve been a real corny project. This shit could’ve come out real stupid, but the fact that it’s coming out just a year after we started. It wasn’t a project that just went on and on, it wasn’t beleaguering, it’s kind of actually fun to do. We hope to be able to do more mashups like this because that’s basically what it is. Now I’d like to see my man [Kurupt] and Cube do a record for commercial release. I think right now the point is to just keep puttin’ out records instead of being gun shy and waitin’ and holding ‘em we just wanna just keep puttin’ out records. We want people to keep dancin’ because you know it’s getting stagnant. You can’t stagnate your fans, you gotta keep ‘em motivated by putting out more records, especially if they love you.

Kurupt: And that’s what this is all about man. And most importantly I don’t know if I‘ve had this much fun making a record in a long time man. That was another thing to add to it. There was so much to this album that was needed. It was just like you know we had the most fun that we’ve had in the long time making this album and that’s what this is all about. When we first started out, when he dropped “Quik is the Name” It was fun he enjoyed himself, he had a ball. He had a ball taking other people to different places. The first time he took one of his homeboys when he never been out the hood to a place out of town or a place somewhere else it was big man, that’s what this was man.

Quik: It was technically a wind because we weren’t thinking about the repercussions of anything, we didn’t know nothin’. The further I had ever been out of Compton was just to Long Beach.

Kurupt: Now you’re travelling all over the world, takin’ your peoples with you.

Quik: It’s a different game. Now we’re mature and we know how to respect our fame. We know how to share it too. I like to see people successful cause I don’t feel alone. I like helping artists develop and what not. I like discovering people; I like listening for new sounds. There’s a couple of new sounds that’s coming out right now that I like, I said I wouldn’t talk about it but, I like to see the new ground being broken. I like what Glasses is doing,. I like Nipsy Hussle’s hustle. I like Problem and what not. I like to see certain people grindin’ and get they props. Even my nephew Infrared I gotta shout him out, like the people that you don’t see and don’t know, but I think have potential to develop into artists that can actually make some noise. You know those are kind of the youngest people. I said I wouldn’t acknowledge it but I had to.


Dubcnn: Are there any other artists making appearances on the album other than you two?

Kurupt: Yeah we got Tre.

Quik: Tre Mac. See that’s another thing, I found this artist up in Sacramento, actually he found me he was on my MySpace and what not. But I saw him perform like in Carmel Monterrey and I dug what he was doing so I invited down to spit 16. If you get a hot 16, that’s the template for rap. If you follow how 16s work, they work. Yo-Yo’s on the record he came through. Yolanda, I’ve been saying I wanted to work with her forever. It’s cool to get another West Coast legend in here workin’ it.

Kurupt: Damn, boy did Yo-Yo kill it. Then we got problem on there. We kept it pretty much in house, f-cked with those that wanted to fuck with us, you know and came out with a classic album.

Quik: I think I’m about to win this pool game too. You kinda done with the interview?


Dubcnn: Yeah pretty much.

Quik: I also want to acknowledge too that on this album we got like a bunch of great musicians too like Keith Crouch and Robert Bacon on guitar, and David Foreman on guitar, and Jubu. Jubu has played on like “Lay Your Head On My Pillow” for Toni Toni Toni, records like that, he did some really important records. Terrace Martin, obviously playing keys and horn arrangements and stuff. You know it kind of became fun, especially to do it instead of just in the box, all computer-driven everything, it’s cool to let people play real strings. On that note check this out here. I’m shooting for that corner pocket right there. Is it really that easy?


Dubcnn: That’s a game. Well thanks a lot, appreciate your time for the interview. When’s it dropping, when can people expect the album?

Quik: The record comes out June 9th on RBC Mad Science, Fontana, Universal.

Kurupt: That’s mad science, pentagon, Fontana, with the RBC twist, Universal to top it all off, cause we still in the majors baby, but we independently pushin’ and as you can see we sharp as we wanna be, understand, stupid sharp.

Quik: I’m into my video games. That’s how I feel sometimes. 8-bit Nintendo.

Kurupt: Hey good lookin’ man. Thanks for all the support. On a real note we love y’all Dubcnn we love y’all we got more for y’all ya dig what I’m sayin’? And get ready for that new DJ Quik solo album it’s comin’ soon and that new Kurupt solo album “Street Lights” it’s comin’ soon, we ain’t playin’. Chuuuch.


Dubcnn: Alright peace.






 

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DJ Quik & Kurupt (BlaQKout) // Exclusive Video Drop // Dubcnn

Download The Video Interview: Windows Media
Download The Dubcnn Drop: Windows Media

Press Play to stream footage (Fast Connections Recommended)

..........................................................................................

 
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