If Safe & Sound had been released and pushed by Death Row......

[R-Tistic]

I was playing Safe & Sound today...and thinking about the fact that Suge Executive Produced it, although it didn't come out on Death Row. From what I know, this album went Gold just like the album before and after it, and he only went platinum on his first effort. I was wondering...if this album had come out on Death Row as well, and received the same hype and promotion that Chronic, Doggystyle, Murder was the case, Dogg Food, and All Eyez on Me got...how successful would the album have been, and how would it have affected Quik's career? Thinking back to 95...I remember Safe & Sound and Summer Breeze being singles on L.A. radio, but I never heard them once outside the state, and never saw a video on BET or MTV for either one of them. Most people I know outside the state know about DJ Quik, but can't tell you the name of this album, or any of his other albums or singles...they might just say "I remember that one song he had that sounded like this" or "I remember he had a song with Tony Toni Tone". Crazy thing is, 95 is the year that ANYTHING from the West was a major hit, and many classics were created by one hit wonders who people had never heard of and never heard from again...and Quik didn't have any hits at this level that the whole world still knows and sings, although he's one of the top three artists still around that was out at the the time with a CD.

If he had signed with Death Row for this album, and they had promoted it, my most educated guess would be..........

Death Row/Quik would have used some of the hype from the beef with MC Eiht and "Dollaz & Sense" to promote it, and subliminally push it with the edge that it was some more "dangerous, violent, gangsta rap that encourages negativity" just as the other DR releases, and this controversy would have helped it....but the album itself would still have been a major success because of the overall quality of it. Safe & Sound, Summer Breeze, and possibly Somethin 4 Tha Mood would have been the singles with videos, and one or two of these may have become classics at the level of Let's play house, How do you want it, or Doggy Dogg World, but not quite at the same level of California Love, Nothin but a G thang, or Gin and Juice. However, the album would have still gone 2x platinum at a minimum, and possibly more if they had dropped some features on there, which I am sure he would have. I don't know what songs he would have used someone on, and I doubt he would have had to use Dr. Dre for any production...but just having one of the other stars on there would have helped it some, even though everything west coast in 95 sold.

Afterwards...if Quik got off without having to do any other albums with Suge, and went on to put out Rhythmalism...he may have needed a bit more promotion for it, and possibly a stronger single, because Hand in Hand was hot, but wouldn't have carried his name after a three year hiatus. However, this album would have went Platinum or more, because people would still remember Safe n Sound, and would have looked foward to him. Overall, I feel that he would be much more of a house hold name, although he probably wouldn't have ever been at a Snoop type of level. He may have even resembled DPG's legacy...to where they had one album EVERYBODY had and knew, then had major albums on the West that got slept on throughout the country, but still had a voice and name that most younger rap fans would still recognize.

[Lord Funk]

Really interesting idea.

I think it would have given Quik a huge push and promoted the album far above the level it actually reached. But I think that would have been true of ANY album released by DR at that time.

Listening to the album, the DR influence is clear, even down to the tracks running into each other with static sounds etc...

Above all, this thread just makes me want to bump Safe and Sound. What an album...

[R-Tistic]

Really interesting idea.

I think it would have given Quik a huge push and promoted the album far above the level it actually reached. But I think that would have been true of ANY album released by DR at that time.

Listening to the album, the DR influence is clear, even down to the tracks running into each other with static sounds etc...

Above all, this thread just makes me want to bump Safe and Sound. What an album...

Damm that's real...the way he flipped the samples was very Dre and Warren-esque, and the skits and personality on the songs did sound very Death Row. It didn't have as strong of a gangsta vibe as most other DR albums, and was more laid back on a Warren G tip, but that wouldn't have really been a problem to me. "Diggin you out" samples the same song, "I get lifted" that they sampled for "Gin and juice" and it's #3 on there. "Tha hoe in you" sounds like one of those dumb songs that NWA or Snoop/DPG would make. I think it would have actually helped DR out as far as showing their diversity, because it had the same general influence, but was still a much different album.

[Lord Funk]

Really interesting idea.

I think it would have given Quik a huge push and promoted the album far above the level it actually reached. But I think that would have been true of ANY album released by DR at that time.

Listening to the album, the DR influence is clear, even down to the tracks running into each other with static sounds etc...

Above all, this thread just makes me want to bump Safe and Sound. What an album...

Damm that's real...the way he flipped the samples was very Dre and Warren-esque, and the skits and personality on the songs did sound very Death Row. It didn't have as strong of a gangsta vibe as most other DR albums, and was more laid back on a Warren G tip, but that wouldn't have really been a problem to me. "Diggin you out" samples the same song, "I get lifted" that they sampled for "Gin and juice" and it's #3 on there. "Tha hoe in you" sounds like one of those dumb songs that NWA or Snoop/DPG would make. I think it would have actually helped DR out as far as showing their diversity, because it had the same general influence, but was still a much different album.

Yep, I agree that it would have been a good move for the label as well as Quik. The albums sounds like a natural evolution of what they'd been producing for the past three years.

For me, Quik took the model that The Chronic and Doggystle introduced and tightened and polished it. Come on, even down to having an intro instrumental over which he dissed his enemies - it's like he just finsihed listening to 'The Chronic Intro'. And I don;t mean that in a bad way, because to me Quik actually made the DR model sound fresher on that album than it had. Put it this way - Safe and Sound has aged better than The Chronic to me - it still sounds fresh, whereas The Chronic sounds dated.
 

[Davizz]

It could go platinum, but not turing him into a superstar.

[R-Tistic]

Really interesting idea.

I think it would have given Quik a huge push and promoted the album far above the level it actually reached. But I think that would have been true of ANY album released by DR at that time.

Listening to the album, the DR influence is clear, even down to the tracks running into each other with static sounds etc...

Above all, this thread just makes me want to bump Safe and Sound. What an album...

Damm that's real...the way he flipped the samples was very Dre and Warren-esque, and the skits and personality on the songs did sound very Death Row. It didn't have as strong of a gangsta vibe as most other DR albums, and was more laid back on a Warren G tip, but that wouldn't have really been a problem to me. "Diggin you out" samples the same song, "I get lifted" that they sampled for "Gin and juice" and it's #3 on there. "Tha hoe in you" sounds like one of those dumb songs that NWA or Snoop/DPG would make. I think it would have actually helped DR out as far as showing their diversity, because it had the same general influence, but was still a much different album.

Yep, I agree that it would have been a good move for the label as well as Quik. The albums sounds like a natural evolution of what they'd been producing for the past three years.

For me, Quik took the model that The Chronic and Doggystle introduced and tightened and polished it. Come on, even down to having an intro instrumental over which he dissed his enemies - it's like he just finsihed listening to 'The Chronic Intro'. And I don;t mean that in a bad way, because to me Quik actually made the DR model sound fresher on that album than it had. Put it this way - Safe and Sound has aged better than The Chronic to me - it still sounds fresh, whereas The Chronic sounds dated.
 

That's definitely a fact. I think this album, along with Dogg Food, aged better than The Chronic, even though that album was three years older, which makes a big difference because music changed a whole lot between then. There are some songs on Chronic that it's just like damn, that is 1992 with no question...it is marked like New Jack Swing. It's mainly because Quik used more live sounding instruments, and even his synths don't have that same gritty sound as Chronic did..and the drums definitely sound more acoustic on most tracks, and that makes a BIG difference.

[Pushinbigbody00]

i know alot of yall are too young to even know about the actuall album when it dropped..But even dropping on Profile, the album WAS HUGE!! I remeber when it dropped, AND EVERYONE was bangin it..Quik was ALREADY A HUGE STAR, both albums before that were atleast gold, Quik Is The Name might have even gone platinum..I was liiving in Arkansas at the time when this album dropped..and everyone I knew owned a copy and was bangin it nonstop..

[Digital Pimpin']

Interesting question and very difficult to answer. I remember the Quik cameo at The Source Awards Death Row performance and thinking "damn, he should stick with tha row".

Quik would definitely have got more promotion and a few more videos and DR guests. It's hard to say what would have happened, although every single Death Row release at the time was ultra hyped/anticipated so no doubt he would catch some of that publicity.

One thing's for sure though, if Safe + Sound had come out on DR, it would have been re-released three times already for Suge to milk what he could.

[R-Tistic]

i know alot of yall are too young to even know about the actuall album when it dropped..But even dropping on Profile, the album WAS HUGE!! I remeber when it dropped, AND EVERYONE was bangin it..Quik was ALREADY A HUGE STAR, both albums before that were atleast gold, Quik Is The Name might have even gone platinum..I was liiving in Arkansas at the time when this album dropped..and everyone I knew owned a copy and was bangin it nonstop..

I definitely remember it, and I know there were a good number of people in the south who were on it, but I guess those were the people who are about 26-35 now, and not the younger ones who ended up being 10-20 while the south was on top. I have met a good number of older cats in the south and midwest who know a lot about Quik...but most people 21 and younger just know his name, and figure he's old.

Quik was big because his first album did go plat, but he may have come out a little bit too early or something, because he was never really mentioned much or had much representation when the West was really running things, including 1995. I always talk about how the summer of 95 was the greatest summer in rap history, with the West running it and the south, east, and midwest still having some major classics...but when people think of that summer, you'll only hear a few people from L.A. mention Quik's songs...which shows that he wasn't as big of a star as the others. Songs such as "Big Poppa" "1st of tha month" "Summertime in the LBC" "I wish (I was a lil bit taller)", "Back in the dayz (Ahmad)", "Round and round" "Juicy" were all classics that everybody nationwide remembers....but barely anyone who's not a Quik fan will say "yeah, I remember Safe & Sound and Summer Days being major hits that year" you feel me? So basically....I think Death Row would have pushed those songs to where they hit that same level.

[Sir Petey]

when the shit came out I always wondered this....why didnt have the row logo? he wanted to drop it on DR but had contractual obligations to prority. it had the DR sound and was made in DR studios...


but really though yall gotta quit with all these hypothetical scenarios....shit like this holds the WC back. the fans livin in the past.
WC artists aint even alowed to evolve anymore...


I was an eighties baby and I grew up in the ninties so my memories of these albums are as fond as yours and just as important to me as they are yall but I came to a realization that the wc cant grow as long as we pigeon hole the artists.

[R-Tistic]

but really though yall gotta quit with all these hypothetical scenarios....shit like this holds the WC back. the fans livin in the past.
WC artists aint even alowed to evolve anymore...

People always say things like this on here, but I think it's different, and I definitely don't think it's always about "livin in the past"......

For one....looking at hypothetical situations like this can end up being VERY, VERY helpful when discussing the current artists, especially since the last few years have been cursed because of decisions, or lack of decisions, made by artists and their companies. How many recent artists have we said "he should have signed with..." "why did he leave...." "is he gonna come out with....."? That's all we ever really have to talk about, especially with Game being the only L.A. artist to even come out period, and with the Bay aritsts coming out, but not even selling anything even though hyphy is nationwide now.

Second....until these new artists and producers step their game up and start producing GREAT music, then we will have no choice but to "live in the past"...because there are NO mixtapes I'll be bumpin in 12 years like I do with Safe & Sound or anything else from that era. I am going to make a post about that soon....I realize that the West will "not evolve"...but not only are we stuck, but the material coming out has just been sub par. We need to realize that dope rappers and lyrics do NOT automatically equate to dope, timeless music.

[Sir Petey]

fair enough pimp....


....you understand what Im getting at though, right?


west coast is a catch 22...if they put out a beautiful melodic album with warm synths and g funk beats the medias gonna slam it for not being progressive enough If they come out with a cutting edge album with trendy guest spots and new production they gonna say we trying to hard to fit in with whats hip...



bottom line is wc has to reinvent itself using key nostalic elements to remind you but reshape the sound so Its new to the people that werent down in the ninties...game tried but relied to heavily on his NWA name dropping bullshit to ba called progressive.

ya cant win for loosing.

[proverbs aka DD]

This album would of done the same..

DJ Quik already had a name for himself prior to Death Row being that big... So it's not like Death Row would of been 're-introducing Quik to the world' the world already knew him.

Now, it would be different if Quik had serious beef with MC Eiht, got shot and signed with Death Row to release the album. In other words, if Quik had a bigger beef, he would of sold more..

[R-Tistic]

fair enough pimp....

....you understand what Im getting at though, right?

west coast is a catch 22...if they put out a beautiful melodic album with warm synths and g funk beats the medias gonna slam it for not being progressive enough If they come out with a cutting edge album with trendy guest spots and new production they gonna say we trying to hard to fit in with whats hip...

bottom line is wc has to reinvent itself using key nostalic elements to remind you but reshape the sound so Its new to the people that werent down in the ninties...game tried but relied to heavily on his NWA name dropping bullshit to ba called progressive.

ya cant win for loosing.

Yeah I definitely know what  you mean, and I have always said that the West's "new sound" should have elements that remind people of the 90's to an extent, but still has a fresh sound overall.

Thing is, even with the catch 22, most west coast rap we've heard is either one extreme or the other...and the same goes for most rappers I know of in L.A. Either the sound is 1995, or it is 2007 but sounds more like the south or east than something new or refreshing. Hyphy is the only thing the West has had lately that could be classified as being a "new" sound, and since no sound is really "new", it's still the closest thing we have to being refreshed and having something that doesn't sound like anything we've heard recently.

I guess I just see it as most older adults do....whether they grew up on Rock, Jazz, Soul, or even old school Hip Hop, it seems that most of the 35, 40+ people tend to love the music they grew up on the most, and they will end up liking some of the new artists and music, but nowhere near as much. It's not that they are stuck in time...but their views on what "good music" is were shaped in their younger days, and they tend to only be triggered in a positive way if something new reminds them of something they've heard before, or if it uses the elements that they like, and incorporate it into a new sound. Therefore, someone who grew up on 70's Soul usually likes Jill Scott and Musiq, but not always Usher or R. Kelly...and someone who grew up on Herbie, Dizzy, or Miles tend to think Kenny G is boring and garbage.

So with us...I guess you can say that we were lucky enough to grow up on the 90's West music, because most kids who are 13-18 now don't love it as much, and the music that's shaping their views is what's on radio...and that's what we think sucks. However, they'll end up "stuck in time" in ten years saying, "damn, Snap Music is better than this 2017 music!!" as sad as it may be.

Overall....I've nearly given up on the west "coming back" and it will "come back" when it does...but we've expected too many things to happen in the last seven or eight years, with nothing being successful...so fuckit, if something new is dope, I'll love it the same way...but most of it just doesn't hit us the same way as it did back then.

[Sir Petey]

fair enough pimp....

....you understand what Im getting at though, right?

west coast is a catch 22...if they put out a beautiful melodic album with warm synths and g funk beats the medias gonna slam it for not being progressive enough If they come out with a cutting edge album with trendy guest spots and new production they gonna say we trying to hard to fit in with whats hip...

bottom line is wc has to reinvent itself using key nostalic elements to remind you but reshape the sound so Its new to the people that werent down in the ninties...game tried but relied to heavily on his NWA name dropping bullshit to ba called progressive.

ya cant win for loosing.

Yeah I definitely know what  you mean, and I have always said that the West's "new sound" should have elements that remind people of the 90's to an extent, but still has a fresh sound overall.

Thing is, even with the catch 22, most west coast rap we've heard is either one extreme or the other...and the same goes for most rappers I know of in L.A. Either the sound is 1995, or it is 2007 but sounds more like the south or east than something new or refreshing. Hyphy is the only thing the West has had lately that could be classified as being a "new" sound, and since no sound is really "new", it's still the closest thing we have to being refreshed and having something that doesn't sound like anything we've heard recently.

I guess I just see it as most older adults do....whether they grew up on Rock, Jazz, Soul, or even old school Hip Hop, it seems that most of the 35, 40+ people tend to love the music they grew up on the most, and they will end up liking some of the new artists and music, but nowhere near as much. It's not that they are stuck in time...but their views on what "good music" is were shaped in their younger days, and they tend to only be triggered in a positive way if something new reminds them of something they've heard before, or if it uses the elements that they like, and incorporate it into a new sound. Therefore, someone who grew up on 70's Soul usually likes Jill Scott and Musiq, but not always Usher or R. Kelly...and someone who grew up on Herbie, Dizzy, or Miles tend to think Kenny G is boring and garbage.

So with us...I guess you can say that we were lucky enough to grow up on the 90's West music, because most kids who are 13-18 now don't love it as much, and the music that's shaping their views is what's on radio...and that's what we think sucks. However, they'll end up "stuck in time" in ten years saying, "damn, Snap Music is better than this 2017 music!!" as sad as it may be.

Overall....I've nearly given up on the west "coming back" and it will "come back" when it does...but we've expected too many things to happen in the last seven or eight years, with nothing being successful...so fuckit, if something new is dope, I'll love it the same way...but most of it just doesn't hit us the same way as it did back then.

elegantly spoken homie....+1 to ya.