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When the history of West Coast hip-hop is written, some names will immediately make the list. You won’t be able to mention rap in California without hearing the names Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Ice-T and Snoop Dogg. However, the West Coast’s secret weapon, one of the most successful but most underrated entities in the state of California, hell, in all hip-hop, is DJ Quik. For over a decade and a half, the man born David Blake has served as MC, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist, making him one of the genre’s most well-rounded talents.
Over the course of a career that began in 1990, when he was a teenager, Quik has become a Gold and Platinum artist, with a slew of well-received albums, as well as outside productions and remixes for everyone from Tony Toni Tone to Talib Kweli to Whitney Houston. His smooth, synthesizer-based sound was a precursor to the “G-Funk” that Dr. Dre popularized in the mid-’90s. It could be argued that Quik is as responsible for the signature West Coast hip-hop sound as Dre (widely regarded as the greatest rap producer ever) is. The budget-priced Born & Raised in Compton is one of several Quik compilations flooding the market (I can think of at least three others), but it’s the most succinct, capturing all the hit singles with no filler in the bunch.
Although he repped L.A.’s notorious Bloods set (reportedly, the “C” was left out of his stage name to avoid any kind of affiliation with the rival Crips), Quik’s endorsement of set-tripping was minimal, and there is little to none of the violence we normally associate with gangsta rap in his lyrics. Much like NWA’s landmark “Straight Outta Compton”, Quik took more of the “street reporter” approach. “Born & Raised in Compton”, Quik’s first single, is indicative of this. It was like a guided tour for those who didn’t have access to Cali’s mean streets.
Quik knew about at least two things more important to him: partying and booty. “Tonite” was the track that really set it off for Quik (it was the first song I, as a New Yorker, ever remember hearing of his). As a keyboard and vocoder-enhanced tale of a night in which Quik partied just a little too hard, this set the tone for much of his work. The lyrics were hard enough for the thugs, but the grooves were smooth enough that even your Blue Magic-loving grandma could groove to the beat—as long as she could stand the swearing. This was the track that propelled Quik to the A-list and set the tone for mean muggin’ West Coast MCs to smile once in a while.
1. Born and Raised in Compton
2. Quik Is the Name
3. Tonite
4. Loked Out Hood
5. Way 2 Fonky
6. Jus Lyke Compton
7. Dollaz + Sense
8. Summer Breeze
9. Hand in Hand - (with 2nd II None)
10. Down, Down, Down - (with Suga Free/Mausberg/AMG)
11. You'z a Ganxta
12. Pitch You in on a Party
13. U Ain't Fresh - (with Erick Sermon/Ham)
14. Do I Love Her? - (with Suga Free)
download link:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BH4AO8HW
DJ Quik - Tonite
