* * * DJ Quik & Kurupt new dx interview * * *

[Elano]

Jadakiss once rhymed, “Gangstas don’t die, they get chubby and move to Miami.” As it concerns West Coast gang culture, that humorous yet partially true line by ‘Kiss points to the very real image of minorities killing each other for control of drug territories and street gang affiliations long before retirement age. It’s a world artists like DJ Quik and Kurupt have been providing an insight into for years, despite some of its members being reduced to caricatures in the tradition of the Bangin’ On Wax participants.
Kurupt and Quik have reached the point where even those not familiar with Hip Hop or Southern California gang culture know who they are. All of which creates an interesting debate, because there isn’t exactly a retirement program for G’s.
Revisiting a friendship 17 years in the making finds both men evolving beyond something more revered than OG status. These days you’re more likely to find them being inspired by Morocco than Crenshaw and Slauson. And the venom and drama of “Dollaz N Sense” and “Callin’ Out Names” is all but gone. None of which means you should expect them to get lazy, pack on the pounds and relocate to the Sunshine State. Musically they’re more active than ever. Darwin would be proud.

You guys made this record about a year ago. Now that it’s about to come out, have you had a chance to reflect on it?
DJ Quik: When we listen to it now, it’s almost like the first time. When the record starts over again, it feels cyclical. It’s a record that I can personally listen to over and over again, like [Stevie Wonder's] Songs In The Key Of Life. And it’s not that I’m comparing it to Stevie, but it’s just a smart Hip Hop record. It’s not threatening anybody, it’s music the way we do it and it’s our sound. We created a new sound. It’s not really a Kurupt sound, and it’s not really a DJ Quik sound. We took some of both of those and managed to create something else. It’s almost like when you meld chemicals or colors together. We made a new hue in a sense.
Kurupt: I’m very proud of the album, because it’s a step in a different direction for me and for Quik. We didn’t come in to make a record that we thought people wanted to hear from us. We didn’t make a record to try and be better than other records out. We just came in to have a good time and make a record that we enjoy. When we put it out there, hopefully it will gain new fans; hopefully our original fans will grow with us, because this album is growth. Mentally, lyrically and musically we went in different directions with the music that Quik did. Then we took the lyrics we delivered and tried to create a whole different sound and a whole different vibe.

From my years making records, we had a signature sound where you could say,“Hey that’s a Dogg Pound record,” and Quik had his own signature sound. From Snoop Dogg , N.W.A. , Dr. Dre—and the list goes on and on—everybody had a signature sound. And on this one right here, we created the DJ Quik and Kurupt signature sound. That’s what’s gonna be so exciting about it. In music, you have to wear many hats. From the executive chair to being in the studio, you have the choice to go in so many directions. Right now, it feels good to know I have different choices of what sound to go to. I can go to a Dogg Pound sound, a Kurupt solo sound and now I can go to the DJ Quik and Kurupt sound. The same thing applies to my friend Terrace Martin . Me and Terrace created a whole different sound for Kurupt as a solo artist.

Let’s backtrack for a second. You guys are just now doing an album together, but between all the work with Death Row, you’ve crossed paths a lot right?
DJ Quik: The first time I ran into him, was when Dr. Dre was working on The Chronic. He invited me to Larrabee [Studios], and Daz was under a speaker. I don’t know if Snoop was there at that point or not. Kurupt, you was huddled over there under the speaker, and I figured out why. Dr. Dre listens to music so loud that when I stood in front of the board, whoo! When he pushed play…[Laughs]
See, Dr. Dre has this thing. He’s quiet, and he don’t talk about the music. He won’t say nothing, and then all of a sudden he’ll go, “Yo, tell me what you think.” And he pushed play on the tape machine and The Chronic comes on. And I just see this whole new movement of music. I see Daz and Kurupt just groovin’—not too hard—but just groovin’. The music was puppeteering y’all almost. And I felt like, “Why did I miss rehearsal? I see this thing is going down.” I caught the vapors. Fuck it.

And then to see how cool they was, ‘cause I had heard some of the records beforehand. I thought that they was unapproachable. But we passed a joint and been friends ever since. I came through and scratched on the Dogg Food [album]. I just snuck in the studio and did a couple cuts and a little drum here and there. It was great, and I always wanted to work with Kurupt. It just seemed like the time and opportunity lent itself to us, and we didn’t have any negative influences in our lives. Even before we worked together, I did a beat on you [hums the melody to a Kurupt song]. When I heard how he served the beat, and then Daz came in and served it too, that’s when it came to me.

And that led to you guys collaborating again for this project?
DJ Quik: We had a little downtime while doing Ego Trippin’ where we still had the studio. And that’s where we started. We were testing out mics, and Kurupt came through on that intro. We had two sides of the studio poppin’ at once. Mind you this is 2008, and we had already partied together back in 1992. I was on the piano, and we crossed paths because I’m stressful sometimes in the studio. I make sure the session is being pushed along so we can get out with a complete project that everybody likes. When I passed Kurupt in the hallway, we looked at each other and it dawned on both of us at the same time. What we had done was recreate that energy from The Chronic, Doggystyle and Dogg Food. I got chills like, “This is crazy.”

And it was all Snoop; Snoop took us back to what we love and put us back on track. He brought me out of retirement, so to speak. I wasn’t really fuckin’ with nothing’ after Trauma and Greatest Hits. I was like, “This ain’t working for me. It’s making money, but I’m not having no fun at all. I’m in the wrong circles. My life is all stress, and my family is on my back.” I really started going through it like that. When I got in the room with Kurupt and Snoop it was like, “What are you doing, Unc?” I started chillin’ with them and knocking out tracks. We’ve been done with Blaqkout. It would’ve been out this January, but we couldn’t get the samples cleared in time. We just got the samples cleared less than 45 days ago.

With such a large body of work, do you ever get caught up comparing this collaboration to what you guys did before?
DJ Quik: We take up where our The Chronic’s, our Quik is The Name’s and our Dogg Food’s left off. We never forgot where we came from, but at the same time, we’re experimenting with new and different ways to do things. I was just listening to some Dr. Dre music recently. It hit me so hard that I got emotional about it. Then I had to think to myself, “Well what else would I expect from Dr. Dre?” So it reminded me of how Dre used to say, “Man, fuck the critics and fuck the politics. Buy it and bang it. Just rock out.”

Some of your best individual works have been really angry. How do you take the anger from a cut like “Dollaz N Sense” or “Callin' Out Names” and refocus that into something that is less angry but still sounds good?
Kurupt: I’m 36-years-old now, so I have no time for any of the games. I don’t stay in environments that get me upset anymore. I stay around positive people and people in my age group who care about things that I do. All of us go through a period in our life where we have these “Callin' Out Names” phases. Those situations were very real to us at the time. But I’m a little more seasoned and grown now.

DJ Quik: You know the anger never ends. There’s still people that make you mad for whatever reason. Now I channel it by not giving it any energy. I don’t even let it in anymore, and that comes from me being in my high thirties. I’m getting up in age and I wanna grow old gracefully; it’s not worth a platinum record. It’s like smoking cigarettes. If you’re going to smoke cigarettes, you might as well accept the fact that you’re taking six or seven years off of your life. It’s the same as doing angry, gangster rap.
And, if you’re not angry no more, it’s kinda hard to promote records like “Dollaz N Sense” or “Callin’ Out Names.” It’s kinda back there. I chalk mine up to, no matter how good a record it was, when I listen to it now it brings back those old energies. It’s just like how when I listen to those old Biggie and 2Pac records. That energy is never gonna go away. For the sake of being nostalgic, I’ll listen to “Dollaz N Sense” when it’s a party—‘cause it was originally intended to be a party record—but when I listen to how mad I was…I was pissed!

Really?
DJ Quik: Yeah. I got into a fight in the studio with somebody that night. My MPC 3000 got broken. A SSL G with 100 inputs got the whole center computer section smashed out of it because a idiot threw a drum machine at me. It was almost like devil time, and I was just feeding the anger. I didn’t realize that I was the hater.

For better or worse, there are certain west coast artists who use those records as a blueprint…
DJ Quik: Well, if I can add to that, I always get nervous when I see diss wars building. I hate that shit. It’s kind of annoying and scary to know what that shit can lead up to. It’s kind of not worth it. I ain’t saying that people shouldn’t disagree. I just don’t think people should attack each other’s character on records unless it’s for…it’s kind of a contradictory thing. Hip Hop is the only music that disses people. I don’t think there’s any other kind of music that just blatantly disrespects people.

You two started out in somewhat opposite sets, so hypothetically it could have gone there. Can you talk about how music transcends being a Blood or a Crip?
DJ Quik: We sold underground tapes in Crip neighborhoods as Bloods; we wasn’t trippin’. The cool thing about this is that we’re so far removed from the gang life that now we’re just musicians. We got that element away from it because it doesn’t benefit us. It’s actually dangerous—we could get killed…real talk. It is what it is. At this point, we’re more family oriented and we do music that I wouldn’t be ashamed to play around my kids.Busta Rhymes was telling me, “If my daughter ain’t liking this shit, then what the fuck is it?” I want my kids to put my songs in their iPod too. And then when I put on their iPod and listen to my songs, I like what I hear.

Kurupt: Exactly. Growth is a very distinct word, but it has a very simple definition to it. It means that you’ve stepped away from something and moved on.

DJ Quik: Every year we graduated to another grade in school. I don’t think that mentality should stop when you’re out of school or college. Every year you should still strive for something else.

Kurupt: And I still stay current with folks from my neighborhood. Quik still stays current with his folks too…

DJ Quik: And when our neighborhood folks come to kick it, we introduce them to people like Ricky Bell. We bring them into our world. Some of my homies have lived in Compton their whole life, and to them the Beverly Center on San Vicente and La Cienega is halfway around the world. That’s their reality…they’ve never been there.

Kurupt: That’s real talk though. You know that’s all some people have. So it is good when different people from different neighborhoods get together and do something positive like feed their families, play some basketball or make these records together. Look at Snoop’s football league. You’ve got neighborhoods from all over—Los Angeles, Watts, Carson—coming together in unison for the children. That’s a big thing, man. It’s always good when the positivity outweighs the negativity, and you get people who could be sworn enemies getting together and doing something positive. Me and Quik are a prime example of that. We’re both students of Hip Hop, and, it just never was there. Even during the Death Row days, we didn’t look at each other like that.

DJ Quik: And it’s more than a set. Like, I never looked at you as a Crip. I was always amazed that I could kick it with these dudes and like them, because I’m one of them Compton kids that I just spoke of. I hadn’t been to the Beverly Center for a long time either. It was crazy to be in a room with Kurupt, Daz and Snoop watching them with all that success and knowing I had success a year or two before that made me feel like, “Wow! I love these guys. They’re my kind of people. I wanna tour with these dudes.”

Kurupt: And normally with music, everything else is irrelevant. The music is what the key is, and the music is the set. So we’re all from the same set as far as this music game goes. It’s just like Jay Rock and Nipsey Hussle. Nipsey Hussle is from my neighborhood and Jay Rock is from the Nickersons. It just shows that me and Quik ain’t the only ones doing this. The youngsters is doing the same thing, and they’re pushing the same line. Nipsey and Jay Rock genuinely got love for each other, and it just goes to show that the neighborhood you’re from is not controlling your individuality. The love you have for someone can outweigh your neighborhood politics and all the rest of that. You’re gonna see more of that, just to let you know that it’s not just us older cats doin’ it

Speaking of older cats, there’s a rumor that you two are looking to work with Rakim. Are we going to see him on this album?
DJ Quik: Damn, you heard? Ah, it made it to the streets. Ra is…
Kurupt: The God!
DJ Quik: There you go. He’s the God emcee. He also keeps to himself a lot, and he doesn’t party out like that. When he writes, he writes seriously. I got a chance to listen to his new stuff recently, and he still sounds like Rakim. He’s still that guy with or without a new record. So, I’m giving him his time, and when he wanna fuck with me I’ma be ready. Just know when he calls, sergeant is gone be ready.

“Hey Playa” was the first track to leak. When you think about that sample or the one you used for “Addicted,” how does that cultural exchange from hitting different countries influence your sound?
DJ Quik: I move the way the music moves me. So when I hear something I know my Hip Hop fans haven’t heard, I want to take the sample and just put a crazy drum beat and some crazy music around it. It’s like how “Addicted” came to be. It started from me hearing it on the TV, taking it to the studio and writing around it. The beat, lyrics and all that stuff eventually came. But it’s still based on Lata Mangeshkar’s record, “Thoda Resham Lagta Hai.” And that’s how I felt when I heard the “Hey Playa” sample. Even though we got clearance for it, I don’t know the name of the song.

All samples cleared though right?
DJ Quik: And that’s the one good thing too, I’m not getting sued anymore. That right there will make your hair fall out and make you drink your liver into paralysis. So we did the business first, and I’m glad to say Andrew Zimmern and the Travel Channel cleared the sample for me. Now we can hopefully use it to our advantage to turn other people on to delving into different music. It’s time to grow up and expand.

I want to flip that question for Kurupt. We’ve seen you overseas since you and Daz were in The Show. How do you see your past and current music influence people when you’re overseas?

Kurupt: Man, yesterday we was rockin’ with hundreds and hundreds of people, and everybody was just lovin’ it. When we rocked our original records, they lost their marbles to it. It’s a part of their growing up. Certain records come on and you start thinking of what you were doing at that time. A lot of people were really experiencing certain things in life when those records dropped. Quik did “Born and Raised in Compton,” and it took people back to what they were doing when it dropped. I was like, “I was just a baby when that record dropped. My folks were banging to it!” When I dropped “We Can Freak It,” it was like [Quik in the background, “Hey!”], it just takes them back. And when we transitioned into the new music, it just made sense and the party kept rockin’.

DJ Quik: And that’s always risky, because if the music wasn’t good, they would’ve let us know. You can’t pay somebody to cheer for you.

Kurupt: You can’t go from a classic, hit to something they’ve never heard and they like it…

DJ Quik: And they were impressed. It was like, “Oh we just heard this for the first time, and this is great. Fuck you guys…y’all on one!” But more like, “Fuck y’all” in a good way or “Y’all niggas is crazy. Y’all high.” They were bouncing out to “Moroccan Blues” like they had been hearing it their whole life, and it was the first time we ever did it.

Kurupt: Yeah. When I did “Ain’t No Fun" , and then we went into a song off the new album called “Do You Know,” they was still partying like it was “Ain’t No Fun” or one of Quik’s classics. That made both of us feel very good for them to enjoy that new music we had. It lets us think, “You know what? Maybe we are on the right page.” And it’s good to see people grow with us.

DJ Quik: We could’ve easily made a regular, gangster rap record. I think we’ve got one song on Blaqout that sounds remotely like something we would do, and that’s “Fuck Y’all.” It’s just a street record to let our gangster rap fans know that we haven’t just totally turned our back. But at the same time, it’s not for them either. We made a statement as opposed to a diss record. It’s all strung out—it’s got strings and guitar on it, and the guitar is kind of intense. It’s based on a Curtis Mayfield type of thing. Everyone sampled Curtis, but this time I didn’t sample. I just kind of played like he would play and capture that era. That’s about the only time that we stepped back and did something we’re familiar with. Everything else is futuristic. I’ve got a Techno record on there called “Jupiter’s Critic in the Mind of Mars,” where I’m rapping in a ring modulator. Jimi Hendrix, rest his soul, didn’t even think to do that. It’s real cutting-edge, and as a matter of fact, it’s one of my favorite records.

This is kind of off topic. But since you both spent so much time in and around Death Row Records, what’s your favorite respective memories of 2Pac?
DJ Quik: There was a night he got released from prison, right after he got bailed out. And we was up at Can-Am Studios in the kitchen taking a break from doing music. At that point I think we were working on Danny Boy and Jewell. Daz was doing the beat to “Ambitionz Az A Ridah” . Y’all was in somebody’s project studio recording Method Man , and I telephoned your voice out so it sounded like you called in and did your verse.
So, in comes Tupac, while we in there playing Mortal Kombat on Playstation. And when I seen him, I just gave him a big ass hug. I was like, “You went to jail. You did it all the hard way, and now you back here? Oh, I’m not gone waste this opportunity to work with you.” I used to marvel at these dudes doing “The Humpty Dance” onstage at the Indianapolis Sports Arena where they were having the Indy 500. I was on tour with them, and Digital Underground tore the arena a new asshole. I’m watching these dudes break “Same Song” out and Tupac is doing the Humpty Dance in slow motion! I was like, “This dude is hot.” I knew it. I just knew it.
So when we got to the studio, he was real mature. He had his real bright eyes on…he had his Muslim on almost. He was sharp, and he was ready to write his epithet. All we did was record it. He was knocking the songs out so fast like, “Can’t we do another one?” Then he would go to the next studio, back in the back, and knock another one out. Then he goes back to Can-Am, in the big room, knocks out “California Love” and “Can’t C Me” . Then he gets back with Daz, and they…What was that other one they did?

Kurupt: Nah, “Ambitionz Az A Ridah” was the one Daz did when ‘Pac first got out of jail. Suge called Daz, and Daz was already up there at the studio. That was the first song he did for the album. Then after that, Dr. Dre got a hold of him and they did “California Love.” Dre already had that first verse ready, and ‘Pac laid his verse down within 30 minutes of walking in the room. Then he did “Can’t C Me,” rolled in the other studio and did another one. He was just going back and forth. Really, he showed us a whole different work ethic.

So many people say that, and even to hear you guys talk about it, it almost seems unreal
DJ Quik: I had never seen that before in any artist, because we used to space it out. You’d do vocals one day, and then the next day do the music, the mix or whatever. He whipped us into shape as far as cranking it out and getting it over with. There was no more of that lingering. It used to take me like two years to do a album. I would spend so much time mixing, remixing and not being sure of it. All of that fixing and trying to make it perfect would ultimately not make sense financially. If it takes you $750,000 to do a record, and the record only sells 200 or 300,000 units, then you’re upside down. So ‘Pac showed me how to pick up the pace.

Was your experience the same Kurupt?
Kurupt: This is how we used to do studio sessions. We’d get in there, knock out a record, and then we’d just smoke for like two hours. You know, we’d smoke, kick it, invite some bitches over, chill and relax. Whoever was working on the music would do their thing. Daz might be in there on the boards, smokin’ and chillin’, and we could work on music for like 10 hours. It was a party. When ‘Pac came out, he was knocking out maybe five records a day. Before that, we were knocking out one—maybe one-and-a-half.
We just watched him. Right after you laid a verse, he’d be like, “Alright, cool. Now put another beat up.” And then he would leave for a couple hours. He’d come back at 2:00 in the morning after a club. So he would work from 2:00 all the way until 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning. And the five records he could knock when he came from the club would all be party records, because he was bringing the bitches and the environment from the club back to the studio.

DJ Quik: And he’d be coming in with his stoagie and that nasty ass bottle of Cristal. [Laughs]

Kurupt: [Laughs] Or some Henn. And ‘Pac was also the one to bring Hennessy to the table for the entire camp. So he stepped us up all the way, ‘cause we was drinkin’ gin and juice at first. So everything was party and uptempo like, “Bang.” From 11:00 to noon, he’d go chill, get some sleep and eat good. Then he’d relax until about 6:00 [p.m.]. Now from 6:00 until about 11:00, he could knock out another three records back-to-back until it was time to go to the club.

Wow.
Kurupt: He was doing this for the whole year, and that’s why you got so many different ‘Pac records. Everybody saw that, and if you hang around the best you’ll eventually become like the best. We always thought we were the best, and we were the best. But, work ethic wise, ‘Pac was the future. He put the grind in all of us. He made us step our game up and realize that being in the studio is a privilege. Niggas would die to be in this type of environment with this class of equipment, so ‘Pac made us appreciate what we actually had right in front of our face

[Digital Pimpin']

Wow, great interview.

So Quik did some shit on Dogg Food, huh?

[THETRUTHUG]

what the hell does he mean with "He had his real bright eyes on…he had his Muslim on almost." ??

[Digital Pimpin']

what the hell does he mean with "He had his real bright eyes on…he had his Muslim on almost." ??

Some of Quik's comments needed qualifying with a "no homo", but he's a genius so he gets a pass.

Tupac is doing the Humpty Dance in slow motion! I was like, “This dude is hot.”

[Klue]

a techno records ?

[Elano]

Kurupt: This is how we used to do studio sessions. We’d get in there, knock out a record, and then we’d just smoke for like two hours. You know, we’d smoke, kick it, invite some bitches over, chill and relax.

LOL 

[Dopeisjay]

props on this one! +1

[Paul]

what the hell does he mean with "He had his real bright eyes on…he had his Muslim on almost." ??

Some of Quik's comments needed qualifying with a "no homo", but he's a genius so he gets a pass.

Tupac is doing the Humpty Dance in slow motion! I was like, “This dude is hot.”

lol

[Suga Foot]

Locking this.  The Krasnoe Dinamo, you were told not to add * * * to the thread title.  Yet you re-added them 3 times after they were removed.