old DJ Quik interview

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just found this interesting and don't know if anyone has ever read it...enjoy

DJ Quik
An interview with AMZ's Eric V. Jones
 
AMZ - How long was the album (Rhythm-Al-Ism) in the making?

DJQ - About a year.

AMZ - What were you doing in the time since your last release?

DJQ - Engineering, working with everybody else, having a good time and trying to keep my head straight.

AMZ - Who were some of the people you worked with?

DJQ - From '95 to '98, Tupac, The Dogg Pound, Tone, Toni, Tony, Deborah Cox, Shaq, and a bunch of others.

AMZ - How did you like working with Tupac?

DJQ - It was the shit, because the dude worked real fast and he didn't sacrifice quality for quantity. Even though he worked fast he was still writing bomb shit.

AMZ - Who are some of the people you would like to work with in the future?

DJQ - Obviously everybody from my camp, like Suga Free, and I still have this thing about doing something with Rakim. I still think he is the shit! I'd like to get down with DMX too, cats like that. Cats with a strong vocal presence make it all the more enjoyable to do records.

AMZ - I read somewhere that the album contains "subliminal dark things," can you comment on that?

DJQ - It's kind of the mood on parts of the record. Just subliminal dark energy. It's really not negative, it's just dark. It's like after you got your ass whooped you aren't really negative after you cool off, but you don't feel like going to fight again, you just kind of sit there thinking shit over. It's kind of like that healing period. A lot of the songs were cut during that "healing period." There are a lot of things I listen back to, because when I do records I don't really pay attention to what I'm doing. I just kind of go with it, and when I listen back, I hear a lot of little percussion things that happened against each other in the music - like left and right stereo spreads on certain triangles vs. certain kabosas, and it's like "Wow that's kind of clever," but it wasn't intentional. All the musicians did their thing on the record, and I think the good thing about it is that it showcases true musicianship on the hip-hop level. But, I think it's broader than that. I don't think I'm going to be limited to hip-hop.

AMZ - The work you did with Deborah Cox proved that!

DJQ - You heard it? Yeah, that was fun.

AMZ - What does this album represent for you?

DJQ - This album represents my cornerstone record. This is my fourth record, and in traditional buildings it takes four squares to make a base. This record kind of proves that if it's successful, then it pretty much says that I am a pretty successful guy when it comes to music, that I didn't steer people wrong. People get their money's worth when they buy my records, and that's all I really give a shit about. I don't want to put out any record that I wouldn't buy myself, and I think this record just solidifies my tenacity for music.

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AMZ - Tell us about the song "Youz A Ganzta."

DJQ - That song was written after Biggie was killed. I wrote that song, because at that point in time, it seemed like everybody was concerned with putting fuckin' negativity on records. It was like "How can you keep doing this and not expect to have some kind of backlash?" But you couldn't say it to the people who were making millions and millions of dollars on it. It was like "Man, this shit is going to come back to haunt us." I realized that I was one of the first people to have repercussions from putting negative energy on records, like all the little fights and shit we used to get into, arguments and getting shows canceled because we were out there representing some dumb shit, some negativity. So, I wrote that song for the up and coming rappers - to let them know to take fucking lyrical responsibility with what they say, because that shit is energy, and when you put it into the universe it will come back. I'm not trying to be weird with it, but that's the truth. How many times can you rap about death and dying, death and dying and killing, before that shit happens? It's because you act on it and people act on it. People take that shit at face value. It's energy, and it IS going to get picked up. So my thing is to be lyrically responsible in that sense. I mean, have fun, get some pussy, drink something, have a good time. That's my thing - party. Life is much too short not to and at the same time do your shit, work, rear your children, but it's cool to release. That's all that I'm saying on the record, and the record is pretty much a party record. It wasn't a lot of concentration on making the lyrics tight, or using these new slogans, or the new lingo. It was "Yo, let's get in there and have a good time." Even Snoop and them had a good time in there doing that record. We just vibed, and I'm glad. As fuck up as music has been in the last three years, it's finally starting to open up a little bit and be a little more relaxed. I just hope for more collaboration with artists in the future, and I'm not tripping on the East/West coast bullshit. That shit is sheer stupidity. We don't even talk about any of that shit on the record if you noticed. This record is not territorial, it is good energy.

AMZ - You also had something on the album about MC Eiht "getting his head together." What is that all about, and how are you involved with the situation specifically?

DJQ - Well, the last time I talked to him, he still seemed a little indecisive about whether or not he wanted to do a record with me. I was like "Don't play with me. I am serious with it." I know what I'll be on deck with when he finally say "All right, let's do it, and if I'm not too busy, I'm with it!"

DJQ - My name used to get implicated in a lot of shit and I was just a fucking nice guy that was scared to be a nice guy. I wasn't scared to be anything else, I just didn't want people to think I was "nice" growing up. So I would put on this armor shit, a big facade like "don't fuck with me." The thing is, no one ever told me it's cool to be the caring, giving, MF that you are. You are a DJ. DJ's are in the back field letting MC's be out there in the front. DJ's are really passive, and it's cool to be a passive, nice, MF.

AMZ - In the CD credits section you mentioned something about low self-esteem. Do you suffer from that?

DJQ - Yeah, every now and then. I think we all do. Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing it right, if I'm doing right just in life. I think we all need somebody to tell us every now and then "You are doing O.K., just keep doing what you're doing." When you don't hear that, you don't have anything to gauge your progress off of. Some people end up spinning out of control and that is the last thing that I want. I want to be around people that keep my head level, so I hang around grounded people as much as I can and as often as I can.

AMZ - How old are you?

DJQ - I am 28.

AMZ - How many kids do you have?

DJQ - I have three, seven, six and four years-old.

AMZ - Do you spend a lot of time with them?

DJQ - Yes, lately I spend as much time as I can with them. Definitely a grounding factor. They make you realize it's not all about you.

AMZ - How did you get together with El Debarge?

DJQ - I have always been a fan of his, and I had no idea that dude was diggin' rap. Then I met him at the House of Blues and somebody introduced us and I gave him my number and I didn't expect to get a call back because he is R&B and I thought he would be busy. He called me back, and the same day he came to visit, we laid a song and that ended up being "El's Interlude," which would normally have been a "Quik's Interlude."

AMZ - Do you plan any future collaborations with him?

DJQ - Hell yes, dude is the shit!

AMZ - You worked with a few different people. Did they search you out or did you look for them?

DJQ - I know Peter (Gunz} from the Shaq record, the first one we did, "Straight Playa." He wrote it, and we just kind of stayed in touch. He came out one evening and we just got down on the record. We had all gone our separate ways for a minute and we realized there is nothing worth us tripping over and blowing an opportunity that not too many people get. You can think you are the shit, and the world revolves around you all day long, but when it's over it's over. I would rather be talking about what I did in life as opposed to what I could have done in life. We're working hard. As a matter of fact, most people, when they drop a record, and I see them, are just out kicking it and partying and shit. It's like "Whoa, don't stop now. Keep going." My record just came out and I'm working right now. I really don't even plan on going on tour immediately. I just want to keep on doing records, because that's my thing, that's what gives me all my balance, my peace.

AMZ - Do you still DJ?

DJQ - Of course - even though there are some bad MF's out here that make me not want to touch the turntables

AMZ - Where do you think your skills are in comparison?

DJQ - I don't have a lot of time to think about it, but if I stay off of the tables for 2 weeks I'm rusty, and that's with anybody who doesn't hone their skills or stay current. But, there are a lot of people that make me want to just give that shit up altogether, because of their tenacity and their work ethic for turning that craft into something more than just a craft. I have always been offended that people call DJing a craft, when in essence it's an art. You have DJ Mind Frame, DJ Qbert and Melody, some of the DJ's based out here, and they are incredible. They give a whole new meaning to the phrase turntable wizardry. I have moved on into production, into instrumentation, more so than just cutting it up, but I still get down on the tables every now and then, hamster style.

AMZ - How many instruments do you play?

DJQ - I don't know, I never counted. I play a lot of percussion. As much percussion as I can. Piano, synthesizers and engineering. I mostly do engineering. That is my favorite. Like single flow and recording. I am into tricks at recording, not just plug in and push record and then play with it later. I'm into shaping sounds, and I'm into recording the best possible sound.

AMZ - How did you learn to play instruments?

DJQ - That has always been a tough question for me to answer. Probably because I showed interest, and then I had people around that knew how to play that showed me little things that opened my mind up to other things and other ways of applying, and I would try it. I have been playing with the piano since I was eight. I had friends with Casio Tones and I would play theirs.

AMZ - At what age did you know that you wanted to do music?

DJQ - Pretty much all my life. Ever since I can remember I used to DJ. I was DJing parties at three years old from what I understand. They used to make bets that I could play any record that they asked me to play. I have always been into music.

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AMZ - I have come to the conclusion that you are a "genius."

DJQ - Thank you. I have always fought with that. You asked me about low self- esteem, what I meant by that. I have been around people that have tried to keep me down and they had me second guessing myself. I have gone through that most of my career, so when people say things like that, I never know how to accept praise because I was never taught to. I always thought that if I accepted the praise that I would become arrogant or conceited, so I would down play it. At the same time, I would go and try to do things that were just a little different than everybody else was doing, and a lot of things I just learned without even knowing them. I watch that quality in my kids. It still doesn't sound right to say "Yeah, I'm a genius." How does that sound? It doesn't come off right, so I'd rather be who I am, a humble, quiet man.

AMZ - What are you doing right now?

DJQ - Just riding around taking care of business. The music thing is only one thing I do. Actually, I was just in a store, and it was this girl's birthday, and she wanted a CD for her birthday, so I bought her my CD and bought her sister my CD. I do that kind of stuff, and it isn't self promotion. That's just my heart saying you can't take it with you.

DJQ - My philosophy is to live day by day, but I still keep a firm grasp on what I want in the future, so I'm still following my destiny. Whatever path is chosen is chosen. I know that I would die for God, because I live for God. Like I told my homie, Mausberg, "Anything you do in life, if it isn't worth dying for then it isn't worth living for."

AMZ - What are some of your plans for the future?

DJQ - I'm working with my nephew. He's 22, and also a weirdo when it comes to music. He's one of those pick-up type of people, and I want to set him up with a studio where he can build on his own and not be distracted, because that's what you really need in this game. You need peace and quiet so you can hear your ideas, but when you have so many other people in the room, and so many other energies, it distracts you from your own inner-sanctum. You soul search when you're by yourself, because you have no distractions.

DJQ - I'm also empowering other people to produce, because it's not hard. A producer is a person that incubates good energy, like the ringleader. He does everything from write music and engineer, all the way down to getting beer and taking out the trash. He is an expediter and he makes things happen. That's all a producer is. A lot of people think that production is you writing all the music. People are on a name trip. I have my friend, G-one, in the studio, and if I go to sleep and we still need to get some vocals done, G-one makes sure the vocals get done. So, in a sense, he is a producer. That is why I have no problem giving G-one producer credits, because he sits in and does the hands on stuff that I do, and he will get up and go get a beer also. Before you know it we have hit records going on. They are magical, because the people involved with them are just good people. I do believe that my best records are yet to come, because I'm learning so much stuff now. I'm about to pick up the guitar, because I really want to learn how to play guitar.

AMZ - Did you play the guitar on the intro?

DJQ - I just manipulated some guitar samples. Did you like that crazy rock stuff?

AMZ - Yes! After listening to your current album, and some of your older stuff, I think you pioneered that west coast sound. Would you agree?

DJQ - No, and I will tell you why. I think the person that started instrumentation, as opposed to total overt sampling of everything, was Dr. Dre's Gangsters. It inspired me because I knew that the original "Weak At The Knee's" was a little faster, so Dre kind of pioneered or started the whole thing. I could see where Dre was going, but I feel some other things too, and I just expanded on what he did. If you heard "Straight Outta Compton," that was some incredible shit, even though Eazy-E's stuff was mostly sampled. I found out later what a lot of them were, because we used to think they were the originals. Then I did some research, and found damn near every sample Dre used, and the more samples I found, the less original they were. I don't want people doing that to me, saying he's a charlatan, not an originator. No, that boy is in there thinking about that shit. That boy is very weird, and if you leave Quik alone for a minute, he will do some stuff that would surprise him as well as you. But Dre started it with that Gansta, Gansta, with that live bass, and I just wanted to take it further.

AMZ - Most people would have accepted the credit for originating the sound!

DJQ - I am not a rapist, I am not a thief, I am not a charlatan. I am good energy, and I have to keep passing it, because if we don't turn around and give back, we can't go forward. I would feel guilty. I have a conscience.

AMZ - On your last album it says Suge Knight was your manager?

DJQ - Suge Knight was never actually my manager. We couldn't make a bunch of things happen back then. Actually, what I ended up being at Death Row, was an engineer, mixing records and producing stuff. I was a staff producer. I'm starting to realize what my position was this late in the game, because I felt like a much bigger part of it, but now I see what I was limited to.

AMZ - Do you think it worked out for the best?

DJQ - Hell yeah!

AMZ - Who are some of your favorite current artists?

DJQ - I like a lot of stuff, but I don't like people that are just taking from music without giving anything back. I bullshit you not, I do music and would do music anytime for free, because I love music and I hope I am giving back to the integrity of music. I hope I am keeping it strong. When I hear people sample it's cool, but when I hear them sample over and over again, I feel just as raped as the person those samples aren't cleared with. I feel like "How are you going to make a hit record on my hit record?" It's like you aren't doing your part as the producer, and that is not to talk bad about anybody that is out here doing it, I'm just saying that sometimes you have to be original to solidify your place in this stuff. Otherwise, the public is going to get tired of that after a while. I would do music for free just because I love it. That is the bottom line.

AMZ - I also heard that you are going to get a ring because you say you are married to the music?

DJQ - Hell yeah, I am going to get a ring that says music, and at some point, a tattoo. My partner, G-One, has a tattoo that says "Music For Life." We were going to do that together, but we ended up missing each other that day. Mine will say "Music Is My Life."

AMZ - Do you find that your love for the music adds stress to personal relationships?

DJQ - Are you kidding?! No one woman is probably going to understand me as DJ Quik, and believe that I could be just totally into her, because of the broad spectrum in which I deal with people, both men and women. My work ethic doesn't let me spend enough time with them, and they start getting selfish and greedy, and it's like "Baby, I gotta do this because this is what keeps me alive. If I don't do it, then I am no good to anybody, because I am going to be an irritated, irritable ass nut case. I do this shit to live, I do music to live!"

DJQ - What producers do you like besides yourself?

DJQ - I like Rodney Jerkins, I love Jermaine Dupri, G-One even though that is my homie from my family, but I like G-One's will to experiment, Raphael Saadiq, total genius, total left-handed genius, total. And Timbaland. I appreciate what Timbaland is doing. He is having fun. The only thing is, a lot of the music that is out today is not as therapeutic as music from the 70's or the 80's or the 60's for that matter, so when I do soul searching and proof reading of my life, I get into the car and I turn on some Hiroshima.