DJ Quik breaks down his classic records

DJ_Enki

I know, I know, Complex slideshows are a huge pain in the ass. But it's muhfuckin' DJ QUIK. Stop complaining and start clicking.

batmon

Cut and paste please

white_tea

Oh shit! ... this is my favorite Quik record.

???With the Rhythmalism album, even though it didn't have a home because Profile was going through something and I was fighting them for back royalties and they had me on suspension because they didn't want to pay me. I understood, those were some big checks, I wouldn't want to pay DJ Quik either.

"I was in a comfortable place because I was producing records for Suge, who was taking care of me. I'm producing records for other motherfuckers. So I had a production life outside of my artist life that was actually more fruitful than me being an artist.

"So as that record sat in limbo, I start throwing parties. I had Digital Underground over, we throwing these crazy-ass pimp-of-the-year parties and shit. Bitches running all through the house naked and shit. It was just debauchery! I had the time of my life working on Rhythmalism.

???And I hope it came through on that record. Rhythmalism is a little bit blue, a little bit hypersexual, and I can see how???because I started fucking with my androgyny a little bit. Because hanging out with El, and hanging out with the people he had around him, like the bitches???they made me feel not so rough-around-the-edges.

"I think that's when I lost my rough edges, I lost the gangster shit and became like an R&B pretty boy, and almost gay. Motherfuckers was like, 'Man, you look kind of gay on that cover.' And I was like, Fuck you???I'll kill you. This is musical expression, bitch! Fuck off and die. But looking back it wasn't real blue.

"The name Rhythmalism alone tells you what I was doing. I was mixing up rhythms. I was meshing R&B with hip-hop and jazz. And a little bit of comedy. I love the intro on Rhythmalism. The Rhythmalism intro is funny as shit. I'm trying to do rock and roll-grunge-metal and end up dying at the end of the song, hyperventilating, passing out.

DJ_Enki

???If you listen, 'Let's Get Down' is a complete drum rip-off of 'Dollaz and Sense.??? Because 'Dollaz and Sense' had blew up, I used the drums again on 'Let's Get Down,' and hit No. 12 on the nationwide Top 100 charts.

"That breakbeat is one of the breakbeats that I invented that I used on a 2nd II None 12??? back on Profile for their song 'Be True To Yourself.' I used it on this European remix that I did. This long-form, long-edited???where I was in the studio splicing tape???one of them long breakdown edits. I fucked around, broke that beat down.

"Simon Harris, who had an independent label back then reissuing breakbeats, sampled my shit and put it on that breakbeat. I bought the album and he named it after one of KK's lyrics on there, 'Keep cool little girl.' The 'keep cool little girl' break. It ended up being on Mr. Grimm's 'Indo Smoke.' This is my drum break???back then I cared about my drum breaks. It was my shit. I invented it. I wrote it.

???Just to see how much it got used, and I never got???nobody ever came to me. Warren G never came to me like, 'Man, that was the shit.' He probably didn't even know where he got it from. It was used for 'Black Superman' by Above the Law. It was used on 'Shackles on my Feet' for Mary Mary, from my young producing protege Warren Campbell, Baby Dub.

"And it was also used in 'Home Alone' for R. Kelly, which is another record that I had something to do with that I didn't get credit for because I had some slimeballs in the game that were trying to capitalize on my sound and suspiciously left my name off of the credits.

"That's me playing percussion on the 'Home Alone' record???that's my bass sound, that's my synthesizer, which was a Roland JD800. That's my drum break, the 'keep cool little girl' break. It is what it is.

???But 'Let's Get Down' was fun in that after I heard the Sons of Soul album, by Tony Toni Tone, I knew I wanted to work with them. I wanted to give them a dance record, something funky and grimy. Right around 1994???1995 was the perfect time for something that was amalgamated like that. That kind of record where you've got this beloved R&B group and this fucking hated gangster rapper or party rapper.

"It made for a cool, not-so-aggressive, one of them let-your-hair-down, let's-party-till-we-get-drunk, bring-all-the-bitches-none-of-these-niggas, ladies-leave-your-children-at-the-nursery-so-we-can-slow-wine.

"Three men, nine women, that's how we used to like it back then. That was that kind of record. It was more for ladies. And if you listen to 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' by Nirvana, you can kind of hear some similarities. Don't tell anybody that though. Long live Kurt Cobain.???

SIRUS

anybody got a copy of that breakbeat record quik was talking about?

batmon

white_tea said:

Oh shit! ... this is my favorite Quik record.

???With the Rhythmalism album, even though it didn't have a home because Profile was going through something and I was fighting them for back royalties and they had me on suspension because they didn't want to pay me. I understood, those were some big checks, I wouldn't want to pay DJ Quik either.

"I was in a comfortable place because I was producing records for Suge, who was taking care of me. I'm producing records for other motherfuckers. So I had a production life outside of my artist life that was actually more fruitful than me being an artist.

"So as that record sat in limbo, I start throwing parties. I had Digital Underground over, we throwing these crazy-ass pimp-of-the-year parties and shit. Bitches running all through the house naked and shit. It was just debauchery! I had the time of my life working on Rhythmalism.

???And I hope it came through on that record. Rhythmalism is a little bit blue, a little bit hypersexual, and I can see how???because I started fucking with my androgyny a little bit. Because hanging out with El, and hanging out with the people he had around him, like the bitches???they made me feel not so rough-around-the-edges.

"I think that's when I lost my rough edges, I lost the gangster shit and became like an R&B pretty boy, and almost gay. Motherfuckers was like, 'Man, you look kind of gay on that cover.' And I was like, Fuck you???I'll kill you. This is musical expression, bitch! Fuck off and die. But looking back it wasn't real blue.

"The name Rhythmalism alone tells you what I was doing. I was mixing up rhythms. I was meshing R&B with hip-hop and jazz. And a little bit of comedy. I love the intro on Rhythmalism. The Rhythmalism intro is funny as shit. I'm trying to do rock and roll-grunge-metal and end up dying at the end of the song, hyperventilating, passing out.

my fav as well

hogginthefogg

Ha! He acknowledged the "Let's Get Down"/"Smells Like Teen Spirit" similarity. Awesome.

I have "Let's Get Down" on 45. One of my favorite records.

Hotsauce84

Stolen from my own Facebook post:

I seriously got giddy reading this, like a child at the entrance of Disneyland for the first time. I wish he'd write a book.

I don't have many regrets in life, but a few years ago, Murs called me on a Sunday afternoon. "Can you fly out to LA tonight? Quik and I are mastering the Murs For President at his studio and I want you to be there. Just us three, all day long." I had to work the next day and a last-minute ticket wasn't cheap so I passed on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I've kicked myself ever since. Ugh. A few years later at Paid Dues, Murs made it a point to introduce me to Quik then took a picture of Quik and I. (A few years prior to that, Murs upgraded my entire DJ Quik cassette collection to CD for my bday.)

Also, this is the first time I've ever heard Quik acknowledge the "Let's Get Down"/"Smells Like Teen Spirit" similarities. (I noticed he stopped short of calling it an interpolation. Smart move from a legal standpoint.) I really wish they would've discussed "Sexuality" 'cause I still don't know what sample/interpolation that is. I thought it was that Vanity song from The Last Dragon but after watching it again I realized I was wrong.


Anybody know where that "Sexuality" bassline is from? I was waaaay off on that Vanity track ("7th Heaven"), but I feel it's from somewhere in that era. Maybe even from a different movie.

batmon

Herm said:

Stolen from my own Facebook post:

I seriously got giddy reading this, like a child at the entrance of Disneyland for the first time. I wish he'd write a book.

I don't have many regrets in life, but a few years ago, Murs called me on a Sunday afternoon. "Can you fly out to LA tonight? Quik and I are mastering the Murs For President at his studio and I want you to be there. Just us three, all day long." I had to work the next day and a last-minute ticket wasn't cheap so I passed on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I've kicked myself ever since. Ugh. A few years later at Paid Dues, Murs made it a point to introduce me to Quik then took a picture of Quik and I. (A few years prior to that, Murs upgraded my entire DJ Quik cassette collection to CD for my bday.)

Also, this is the first time I've ever heard Quik acknowledge the "Let's Get Down"/"Smells Like Teen Spirit" similarities. (I noticed he stopped short of calling it an interpolation. Smart move from a legal standpoint.) I really wish they would've discussed "Sexuality" 'cause I still don't know what sample/interpolation that is. I thought it was that Vanity song from The Last Dragon but after watching it again I realized I was wrong.


Anybody know where that "Sexuality" bassline is from? I was waaaay off on that Vanity track ("7th Heaven"), but I feel it's from somewhere in that era. Maybe even from a different movie.

Cameo I Just Want To Be

Hotsauce84

batmon said:

Herm said:

Stolen from my own Facebook post:

I seriously got giddy reading this, like a child at the entrance of Disneyland for the first time. I wish he'd write a book.

I don't have many regrets in life, but a few years ago, Murs called me on a Sunday afternoon. "Can you fly out to LA tonight? Quik and I are mastering the Murs For President at his studio and I want you to be there. Just us three, all day long." I had to work the next day and a last-minute ticket wasn't cheap so I passed on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I've kicked myself ever since. Ugh. A few years later at Paid Dues, Murs made it a point to introduce me to Quik then took a picture of Quik and I. (A few years prior to that, Murs upgraded my entire DJ Quik cassette collection to CD for my bday.)

Also, this is the first time I've ever heard Quik acknowledge the "Let's Get Down"/"Smells Like Teen Spirit" similarities. (I noticed he stopped short of calling it an interpolation. Smart move from a legal standpoint.) I really wish they would've discussed "Sexuality" 'cause I still don't know what sample/interpolation that is. I thought it was that Vanity song from The Last Dragon but after watching it again I realized I was wrong.


Anybody know where that "Sexuality" bassline is from? I was waaaay off on that Vanity track ("7th Heaven"), but I feel it's from somewhere in that era. Maybe even from a different movie.

Cameo I Just Want To Be

Drums yes, but the bassline is different, no? It's possible it was replayed/changed slightly from Cameo's, but it sounds very similar to something I've heard before, but I just can't place it. It's bugged me for years.

batmon

Herm said:

batmon said:

Herm said:

Stolen from my own Facebook post:

I seriously got giddy reading this, like a child at the entrance of Disneyland for the first time. I wish he'd write a book.

I don't have many regrets in life, but a few years ago, Murs called me on a Sunday afternoon. "Can you fly out to LA tonight? Quik and I are mastering the Murs For President at his studio and I want you to be there. Just us three, all day long." I had to work the next day and a last-minute ticket wasn't cheap so I passed on the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I've kicked myself ever since. Ugh. A few years later at Paid Dues, Murs made it a point to introduce me to Quik then took a picture of Quik and I. (A few years prior to that, Murs upgraded my entire DJ Quik cassette collection to CD for my bday.)

Also, this is the first time I've ever heard Quik acknowledge the "Let's Get Down"/"Smells Like Teen Spirit" similarities. (I noticed he stopped short of calling it an interpolation. Smart move from a legal standpoint.) I really wish they would've discussed "Sexuality" 'cause I still don't know what sample/interpolation that is. I thought it was that Vanity song from The Last Dragon but after watching it again I realized I was wrong.


Anybody know where that "Sexuality" bassline is from? I was waaaay off on that Vanity track ("7th Heaven"), but I feel it's from somewhere in that era. Maybe even from a different movie.

Cameo I Just Want To Be

Drums yes, but the bassline is different, no? It's possible it was replayed/changed slightly from Cameo's, but it sounds very similar to something I've heard before, but I just can't place it. It's bugged me for years.

its sounds like an priginal bassline...its too loosy goosy imo. The mystery continues. Its def not a Cameo bassline change up.

white_tea

Oh shit! Gold, Jerry, gold!

On 'Pac's "Heartz of Men"

???That was the stomp-down funky track???I'll put it to you like this. When I first did that track, I bought a little house in San Bernadino County. Just to get away from L.A., the spot was too hot. I moved away so I could write because my spot was getting blown up in L.A., Compton.

"I shook out there, built a little studio. Started making beats in there. That was one of the beats that would have been on Safe + Sound, but Safe + Sound was already pretty much done, so it was kind of hangover beat, just sitting there. I offered it to 2nd II None, because I knew it was hot.

"I hate to admit this, but 2nd II None either they were retarded or bourgie. They was like, 'We don't like it. We ain't feeling it.' I was like, Really? 'Yeah, we don't like that one. Make something else.' This is the same group that, when I look at interviews now, these motherfuckers tell everybody that they made the beats!

"Them and AMG. That's cool. If that's what it is, whatever it takes for y'all to get y'alls celebrity or fame, go ahead, I wish you luck. But they turned it down, declined that track, and I was like, so y'all don't mind if I sell it? They was like, 'Shit, go ahead.'

???So I packed up my MPC, my keyboards. Drove my happy ass to Can-Am studios and recorded it in Studio B with Dr. Dre in the back in Studio A. Motherfuckers heard that track, they was like, 'Damn, Quik funky.' Dre left for a little while so Studio A opened up. Studio A was the big room.

"My friend Warren came through, and an in-house producer over at Death Row Records who played the synthesizers on that record. Warren played piano on it. I played bass. We pretty much freaked the track and made it big. Put a two-track of it up.

"When Tupac got out of jail days later, we didn't even know he was getting out of jail, because Suge did that shit in private. He didn't even tell anybody that he was in New York so we just had the studio running.

"The fuckin' door flies open, we're in the kitchen playing Mortal Kombat, it's Tupac Shakur, hooked up. Fresh outfit and shit. I'm like, 'What the fuck? Nigga you're supposed to be in jail.' Who gets out of jail? That's what let me know that Death Row shit was powerful.

"So I'm like, well, since you're here, I've got something I want you to hear. I played one for him. He's like, Alright, whatever. I play 'Heartz of Men' second. He grabbed a notepad, he's like, 'Quik, let me go back and fuck with Daz. I'll be right back.' An hour later, he finished the song in the back???by this time I switched back to B since Dre came back.

"He came in B, sat down with a legal pad, a fuckin' ink pen, a blunt, lit up. Wrote that motherfucking song right in front of me. This is where I blew it. I didn't have a video camera. I blew it. I took it for granted. I figured, we're going to live forever???who cares? It just doesn't sound as sweet coming from my mouth as it did the experience of seeing him go in there and obliterate that fucking track like he did. You know?

"The outfits we were wearing, the jewelry we chose, the way we felt when we went into the studio. That shit was such a lifestyle, man. It was incredible. And the 'Heartz of Men,' let that be an indicator of just how we was feeling. I felt like nothing could stop us now???only death. I was really wound up into the production back then. I was fucking wound up. I was going for it.

???As fate would have it, I recently went and visited 2nd II None and visited them in their little situation, wherever they're living. No cars; these guys pretty much fucked off their celebrity. I added insult to injury by telling them just a few days prior, my lawyer emailed me and told me his favorite song of the week was 'Heartz of Men.'

"So I opened up the email, and he said because it just netted you blank-blank-blank-blank-blank in residual royalties. So I look at this big-ass royalty check, and the first person I think of is Tupac. The second person I think of is 2nd II None. I just tell them, 'You guys turned down some serious records. And right now, you guys don't look like you're in the position to turn down your fucking collars. Y'all should have took all that shit, took everybody's money, and laughed all the way to the bank.'

"Let some of these hip-hop artists who have fallen on hard times, let them serve as a lesson or an indicator or how not to do hip-hop. Whether it's gangster rap, pop, swag, whatever it is.

"Let some of these people be a testament of when keeping it real goes wrong, like David Chapelle says. Them keeping it real just cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties that I collect. I hope you print all this shit.???

jlee

good lookin out on posting this complex link, and a nice way to spend 45mins of your time. even being a fan of Quik, still kinda of crazy to see it all laid out over his career and see just how consistent he has been at making good music.

shouts to my dude Les too, as i was looking at all the various 12"s and albums in the link, i forgot how much my dude was always on top of Quiks stuff, making sure to play it on college radio even back when only playing back-packer schitt was the norm.

bobtheorange

SIRUS said:

anybody got a copy of that breakbeat record quik was talking about?

http://www.discogs.com/Raw-Beats-Raw-Beats/release/3529198

Junior

white_tea said:

Oh shit! Gold, Jerry, gold!

On 'Pac's "Heartz of Men"

???That was the stomp-down funky track???I'll put it to you like this. When I first did that track, I bought a little house in San Bernadino County. Just to get away from L.A., the spot was too hot. I moved away so I could write because my spot was getting blown up in L.A., Compton.

"I shook out there, built a little studio. Started making beats in there. That was one of the beats that would have been on Safe + Sound, but Safe + Sound was already pretty much done, so it was kind of hangover beat, just sitting there. I offered it to 2nd II None, because I knew it was hot.

"I hate to admit this, but 2nd II None either they were retarded or bourgie. They was like, 'We don't like it. We ain't feeling it.' I was like, Really? 'Yeah, we don't like that one. Make something else.' This is the same group that, when I look at interviews now, these motherfuckers tell everybody that they made the beats!

"Them and AMG. That's cool. If that's what it is, whatever it takes for y'all to get y'alls celebrity or fame, go ahead, I wish you luck. But they turned it down, declined that track, and I was like, so y'all don't mind if I sell it? They was like, 'Shit, go ahead.'

???So I packed up my MPC, my keyboards. Drove my happy ass to Can-Am studios and recorded it in Studio B with Dr. Dre in the back in Studio A. Motherfuckers heard that track, they was like, 'Damn, Quik funky.' Dre left for a little while so Studio A opened up. Studio A was the big room.

"My friend Warren came through, and an in-house producer over at Death Row Records who played the synthesizers on that record. Warren played piano on it. I played bass. We pretty much freaked the track and made it big. Put a two-track of it up.

"When Tupac got out of jail days later, we didn't even know he was getting out of jail, because Suge did that shit in private. He didn't even tell anybody that he was in New York so we just had the studio running.

"The fuckin' door flies open, we're in the kitchen playing Mortal Kombat, it's Tupac Shakur, hooked up. Fresh outfit and shit. I'm like, 'What the fuck? Nigga you're supposed to be in jail.' Who gets out of jail? That's what let me know that Death Row shit was powerful.

"So I'm like, well, since you're here, I've got something I want you to hear. I played one for him. He's like, Alright, whatever. I play 'Heartz of Men' second. He grabbed a notepad, he's like, 'Quik, let me go back and fuck with Daz. I'll be right back.' An hour later, he finished the song in the back???by this time I switched back to B since Dre came back.

"He came in B, sat down with a legal pad, a fuckin' ink pen, a blunt, lit up. Wrote that motherfucking song right in front of me. This is where I blew it. I didn't have a video camera. I blew it. I took it for granted. I figured, we're going to live forever???who cares? It just doesn't sound as sweet coming from my mouth as it did the experience of seeing him go in there and obliterate that fucking track like he did. You know?

"The outfits we were wearing, the jewelry we chose, the way we felt when we went into the studio. That shit was such a lifestyle, man. It was incredible. And the 'Heartz of Men,' let that be an indicator of just how we was feeling. I felt like nothing could stop us now???only death. I was really wound up into the production back then. I was fucking wound up. I was going for it.

???As fate would have it, I recently went and visited 2nd II None and visited them in their little situation, wherever they're living. No cars; these guys pretty much fucked off their celebrity. I added insult to injury by telling them just a few days prior, my lawyer emailed me and told me his favorite song of the week was 'Heartz of Men.'

"So I opened up the email, and he said because it just netted you blank-blank-blank-blank-blank in residual royalties. So I look at this big-ass royalty check, and the first person I think of is Tupac. The second person I think of is 2nd II None. I just tell them, 'You guys turned down some serious records. And right now, you guys don't look like you're in the position to turn down your fucking collars. Y'all should have took all that shit, took everybody's money, and laughed all the way to the bank.'

"Let some of these hip-hop artists who have fallen on hard times, let them serve as a lesson or an indicator or how not to do hip-hop. Whether it's gangster rap, pop, swag, whatever it is.

"Let some of these people be a testament of when keeping it real goes wrong, like David Chapelle says. Them keeping it real just cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties that I collect. I hope you print all this shit.???

Everything about this story is fantastic but I think it's the bit about playing mortal kombat that won my heart forever.

white_tea

Playing some MC in the kitchen, even. Quik has the art of storytellin' and the gift of color to really engage a man. I don't know too much about the recording of All Eyez On Me but knocking it out in like two weeks seems quite a feat!

RAJ

The El Debarge tracks are ill as fock on Rythmalism

batmon

RAJ said:

The El Debarge tracks are ill as fock on Rythmalism

Yacht Hip Hop Soul

Hotsauce84

This beat always gets me hype: