DJ Quik, circa 2015
David Marvin Blake (Born January 18, 1970), better known as DJ Quik, is an American Hip Hop recording artist, DJ, record producer, mixing engineer, actor, media mogul and former gang banger.
Considered one of the fathers of the "G-Funk" sound that dominated west coast Hip Hop during the 90s alongside Dr. Dre and Battlecat, DJ Quik made a name for himself selling mixtapes and DJing events around Southern California almost non-stop before signing with Profile Records in 1990. In 1991, he released his debut album Quik Is The Name to commercial and critical acclaim and produced rap group 2nd II None's self titled debut the same year. Since then, he's been in demand as a producer and a rapper, producing albums and songs for artists like Tupac Shakur, Michael Jackson, Jay-Z, Suga Free, Snoop Dogg and even Shaquille O'Neal.
The Other Wiki
has more info on his entire production discogarphy, as it would be too much to list every artist he's produced.
He may or may not be a vampire.
Discography
Albums:
- The Red Tape (1987, mixtape)
- Quik Is The Name (1991)
- Way 2 Fonky (1992)
- Safe + Sound (1995)
- Rythm-al-ism (1999)
- Balance and Options (2000)
- Under tha Influence (2002)
- The Best of DJ Quik: Da Finale (2002)
- Trauma (2005)
- The Trauma Mixtape (2005)
- Blaqkout (2008, with Kurupt)
- The Book of David (2011)
- The Autobiography of David (2011, mixtape)
- The Midnight Life (2014)
- Rosecrans (EP, 2016, with Problem)
- Rosecrans (LP, 2017, with Problem)
Songs
- "Born And Raised In Compton"
- "Tonite"
- "Quik's Groove" and it's sequels
- "Quik Is the Name"
- "Jus Lyke Compton"
- "Way 2 Fonky"
- "Safe & Sound"
- "Dollaz + Sense"
- "Summer Breeze"
- "You'z a Gangxta"
- "Hand In Hand"
- "Down, Down, Down"
- "Pitch In On a Party"
- "Quikker Said Than Dunn"
- "Do I Love Her?"
- "Put It On Me"
- "Trouble"
- "Black Mercedes"
- "Fandango"
- "Get Down"
- "Ladies & Thugs"
- "Luv Of My Life"
- "Real Women"
- "Nobody"
Quik's music contains examples of:
- Arch-Enemy: MC Eiht, until 2002
- Badass Boast: The second verse of "Born And Raised In Compton" was a Take That! to a neighborhood thief who robbed Quik of his music gear. Quik responded by mocking him for thinking his stunt would slow down his output. Check out Laser-Guided Karma for the fate of said thief.
- Battle Rapping: One of Hip Hop's longest running battles was between DJ Quik and MC Eiht of rap group Compton's Most Wanted, throwing diss records at each other for fifteen years. Quik also took shots at New York rapper Tim Dog, who dissed him and several other Californian rappers on "Fuck Compton".
- Book Ends: The Best Of DJ Quik: Da Finale◊ deliberately mimics the cover◊ of his debut Quik Is The Name. Ultimately subverted, since Quik decided not to retire.
- Dirty Rap: He was the West Coast's one-man answer to 2 Live Crew during his heyday. The majority of Red Tape consisted of sexually explicit songs and he always has at least one ode to sex on his album.
- Early-Bird Cameo: "Born And Raised In Compton" appeared on The Red Tape four years before it was included on Quik Is The Name.
- Follow the Leader: Invoked in "Jus Lyke Compton", where Quik tells true stories about his encounters with wannabe Crip and Blood sets on tour after West Coast Gangsta Rap went mainstream in the early 90s.
- G-Funk: one of the founding fathers of the sound, but not the Trope Maker.
- Gangsta Rap: Fluctuates between Hardcore, Commercial and Mafioso, with Dirty Rap thrown in for good measure.
- Gangbangers: Quik was a member of the Westside Tree Top Piru Bloods for many years. This caused him many problems as he encountered Crip members across the U.S., as detailed in "Jus Lyke Compton".
- Grand Finale: The Best Of DJ Quik: Da Finale was going to be his last album, but it was ultimately subverted.
- Hidden Track: After Balance And Options, some of the "Quik's Groove"'s on his later albums were deliberately left off the tracklists. Instead, they were attached to the final song on the album, separated by several minutes of silence.
- I Am the Band: One of Quik's nicknames was "The One-Man Band", and his credentials back it up: The majority of his work was written, composed, and produced solely by himself, with only a handful of exceptions.
-
In Memoriam: Balance and Options featured "Roger's Groove", a tribute to Quik's mentor, Roger Troutman, who was murdered in 1999. After this song was released, Quik retired his talkbox out of respect for his legacy. - Instrumental Hip Hop: Every single one of his albums contain one instrumental piece dubbed "Quik's Groove". Some of these depart from his normal hip hop sound and experiment with jazz and funk styles. The exceptions to this rule are "Quik's Groove 7" and "Quik's Groove (The One)", which feature vocals from Jodeci and The Game, respectively. Quik also released an instrumental version of 2005's Trauma.
- Intercourse with You: One of Quik's signature tropes, and he's not subtle about it either.
- Laser-Guided Karma: As mentioned above in Badass Boast, Quik was robbed of all his equipment early in his career by a neighborhood thief. Said thief couldn't keep his mouth shut and bragged about it when Quik released "Born And Raised In Compton". Some time later, the thief was killed after being shot in the street and ran over by a car, much to Quik's joy.
- Meaningful Name: According to Quik himself, his stage name reflects his ability to produce records in a short period of time.
- Ode to Intoxication: "8 Ball", an ode to one of hip hop's favourite drinks, Olde English 800 forty-ounce malt liquor.
- Older Than They Look: DJ Quik is pushing fifty, and still doesn't look like he's aged past 21.
- Precision F-Strike: From the intro of his unreleased diss track "Boom":Just when it seemed I got everything straight and squared away,
I gotta do songs like this that go against my good judgement...
FUCK Y'ALL! - Resignations Not Accepted: Quik regretted his contract with Profile Records, and attempted to jump ship before recording his debut, when Eazy-E offered him a $1 million advance to join Ruthless Records. Unfortunately for Quik, the ink was already dry on the contract, and Profile dragged him back into their fold via a cease and desist.
- The Stoner: "Tha Bombudd" is a song dedicated to marijuana smokers.
- Take That!: Once again, the fifteen year battle between Quik and MC Eiht. From Quik, he put out "Dollarz + Sense", "Way 2 Fonky" and "Let U Havit". Eiht would hit back with the "Def Wish" and "Duck Sick" series', and "Dead Men Tell No Lies".
