DJ Quik: The Best Revenge

[themovie]

The deafening message of money over the love of music has sent our beloved hip-hop into a state of disarray. Very few still create good music just out of love for it, while others are simply trying to crack the Top 5. Although it’s damn near impossible to break into the mainstream, many are willing sacrifice the things most precious in order to achieve success.

DJ Quik is not one to sacrifice where it is not necessary. The Compton, CA native has seen both sides of the spectrum, and has learned quite a bit along the way. His latest album, Under The Influence, has the OG bombing 30-footers on rookies. And, it also proves that this one-hell-of-an-album is, in fact, the best revenge to those that slept on the revered rapper/producer through the years.

AllHipHop: The new album is in stores now. Touch on it briefly for those who don’t know.

Quik: The album is called “Under The Influence.” I did all the production on it except for one song.

AHH: What song was that?

Quik: The “Put It On Me” record. Dr. Dre did that record.

AHH: Who all made guest appearances on the album?

Quik: Everybody from Talib Kweli, Pharoahe Monch, AMG, Hi-C, Kay-Kay from 2nd To None, El DeBarge, Dr. Dre, Wanya Morris (Boyz II Men), and this new reggae artist I got named Chucky. It’s a pretty in-depth record. It’s like a fun record, a summer record, it’s timely, it’s different, it’s funky, and at the same time it’s regular ol’ raw Hip-Hop shit.

AHH: You play a lot of different instruments, right?

Quik: Yeah, everything except bass and guitar.

AHH: How did you go about learning how to play all these instruments?

Quik: I learned it by sight and just watching people. In Compton, we didn’t have no real music classes and no real pianos and shit. So, a nigga picked it up where he could. I believe if you want something bad enough, you are gonna find that shit. Fuck what a nigga say you can’t do. I found my musical education myself.

AHH: Who was your musical influences coming up?

Quik: Anybody that’s funky! George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, Glen Goins, Bernie Worrell, Eddie Hazel, ConFunkShun, The Whispers, Shalomar, Star Point, Dr. Dre, Quincy Jones, anybody that did fly, funky ass music.

AHH: You have your own independent label, right?

Quik: Yeah.

AHH: What are some of the ups and downs of going indy? Obviously, the upside is you make more money, but what are some of the downs?

Quik: The only downside is a nigga don’t really have no free time to do nothing. When you assume all of the business, you have to do all of the business. So, a lot more man-hours are spent being business more so than creative. It’s cool, though…it really ain’t that bad of a downside. If I had been a little younger and more stupid like I was a few years ago, then I probably wouldn’t be doin’ real good. But, I’m handlin’ it because I understand the business.

AHH: How did you create the label and do you have new artists on it?

Quik: Well, first of all, I went shopping my record. I had a record out that I was demoing to record companies. When Arista supposedly dropped me (laughs), I went to Virgin and a couple of other people. And they came at me real foul, man. This real popular executive (who looks like Kevin McHale from the Boston Celtics and always smokes cigars) told me “fuck being an executive, that’s bullshit.” “Go ahead and sign an artist deal because you ain’t hot. Take $200,000, put out another album and just be an artist because that’s what you’re good at.” That’s what made me become an executive. I really appreciate him for that, and when I see him, I’m gonna blow cigar smoke in his face!

AHH: So, what happened next?

Quik: I hollered at my boy Paul who’s down with Universal. I told him what I wanted to do, we looked at my vision, plus he had friends. So, we all got together and we spent all of our own money. They showed us how to do it because you don’t want to get into debt with nobody. We was out there hustlin’. I was damn near sellin’ T-shirts to be able to pay for my shit. We paid for everything, we wrote our album out on a professional level, and it wasn’t done sloppily or tastelessly. Actually, some of the better artwork in music was done ourselves.

AHH: Let’s flip this to a more positive light. How in the hell did you hook up with Truth Hurts?

Quik: In 1992, my homeboy introduced me to her pops. He was up in San Jose, and she was in St. Louis. He used to do music, so I got cool with him and did some business. I met his family and we all just became cool. I used to cook with them back in ’93 and shit. I used to go up there, and we’d just sit down and cook together. When she came back out, she was just in her circles trying to get her artist shit going, and I started fuckin’ with Dr. Dre around this time. Dre started telling me about this artist he got named Truth Hurts, and I was like “damn, that sounds tight!” “If you fuckin’ with a female, I can’t wait to meet her.” The only other female Dre fucked with was Michel’le. So, Dre was like “she’s coming in, she’s on her way.” So, the door swings open, and he points to her and says, “that’s Truth Hurts!” I was like “oh shit!” I was proud of her. I told Dre he couldn’t have hooked up with nobody better. She’s been fly since 1992. So, we started vibin’ and doing music together.

AHH: You only produced one song on her album?

Quik: Nah, I produced another one called “I’m Not Really Looking.”

AHH: Ok, we’ll check for that on June 25th when it drops. Now, onto another subject entirely. Are you affiliated with Tha Row in any way?

Quik: Hell muthafuckin’ no!

AHH: What went wrong with that?

Quik: Well, Tha Row is old-fashioned, man. They use those old-fashioned gangsta tactics that just don’t work no more. That shit’s tired. The karma over there is so bad. Look, Left Eye went over and she ended up dying. I mean, what the fuck, man? There’s a lot of bad energy over there.

AHH: Did you and Dr. Dre have beef at one point?

Quik: It wasn’t really beef, it was just some things that were said. People were pumping up some word of mouth shit. It got me all fired up, and I was like “why is Dr. Dre talking about me, I ain’t talked about him.” People had me believing it. I went on one like “fuck it, he dissed me, so I’m gonna diss him” and it wasn’t even true. We talked about it, straightened it out and moved forward.

AHH: Do you see any similarities with, for instance, the beef you had with MC Eiht, and the beef between Jay-Z and Nas? Do you think their beef was a stunt to sell records or was it a real life beef?

Quik: Me and Eiht had a legitimate beef. I wanted to get down with that nigga, man. Back then, a nigga was younger, and niggas would say something and you would fly right off the handle. I don’t know what turned the whole Jay-Z and Nas thing sour, but I like how they handled that shit.

AHH: How did you and MC Eiht start beefin’ in the first place?

Quik: I put out an underground tape years ago when CMW and NWA was hot, and I was trying to put out a record. I was just announcing to them that another Compton dude was fittin’ to come out. It was cool because I thought we could be just one family in Hip-Hop, so I shouted them out. NWA thought it was cool, but MC Eiht took offense to it. They thought I was dissin’ them, and they started dissin’ me back. I was like “ wow, I never dissed y’all.” I explained that to them, and they still didn’t get it, and they still dissed me, so it became personal. So, I had to tear dude’s ass up.

AHH: Let’s touch on Mausberg briefly. How have you been holding up since his death?

Quik: I put that somewhere where I can deal with it. It was a test of strength because I was already going through some tragic shit. When it happened, it didn’t make me cry or break down and be hurt. That shit made me go buy motorcycles and do stunts and be drunk ridin’ backwards. That shit turned me into a crash dummy.

AHH: The bullet that took his life wasn’t meant for him, was it?

Quik: Nope, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was bullshit, man. We was damn near roommates. We went on tour together, and we grew together after we knew each other. I met up with Tone, and he signed Mausberg to his label. He hung out with Tone, and he was like, “I can’t believe he’s from Compton because he don’t think or act like the average Compton nigga.” “He ain’t got no rusty ass attitude…this nigga is about business and franchising. He wants to grow.” He was about servin’ ‘em lyrically and showin’ muthafuckas why he’s the next Biggie. But, they killed my boy, man.

AHH: Did he have master copies of some unfinished work, and if he does, are they on the album?

Quik: I don’t want to prostitute him like that. Everything that he didn’t want heard or didn’t finish, I ain’t lettin’ nobody hear it. That’s just out of respect.

AHH: One more question before we conclude this. Did you have a lawsuit against The Source at some point?

Quik: We worked it out. It’s old bones, dog. The shit was done like a fiasco, man. Niggas could have got killed out there because they didn’t do that shit right. We bail up and got rushed by the audience. Muthafuckas could just walk up. So, a nigga walked up to one of my homies and fired on him. My nigga started fighting him back and the police are standing right there. The police didn’t intervene until I went over there and told the dude “we’ll holla at you later.” I grabbed my nephew and was like “let’s bounce, homey, we shouldn’t have came up here no way” and niggas rushed me!

AHH: Damn, where was all this going on?

Quik: At the 2000 Source Awards. It’s funny how niggas be going to jail like that’s gonna get them some cool points. They be proud to say, “I’m going to do a bullet.” I seen the homey from The LOX on Rap City saying that same shit. I don’t get it, man. What kind of pride is that?

ALLHIPHOP.COM

[Funkadelic]

Thx

[E. J. Rizo]

AHH: Ok, we’ll check for that on June 25th when it drops. Now, onto another subject entirely. Are you affiliated with Tha Row in any way?  
 
Quik: Hell muthafuckin’ no!  

^^^That shit is funny how he comes out and says that^^^

[=[Euthanasia]=]

Thanx for posting that up movie, I always enjoy reading Quik interviews, he's always got something interesting to say.

“fuck being an executive, that’s bullshit.” “Go ahead and sign an artist deal because you ain’t hot. Take $200,000, put out another album and just be an artist because that’s what you’re good at.” That’s what made me become an executive. I really appreciate him for that, and when I see him, I’m gonna blow cigar smoke in his face!  <<< Highlight of the interview, lol  

[Sikotic™]

Great interview man. Much appreciated