I love some DJ Quik, and when it comes to Quik, this to me is easily his greatest album ever. Quik is just on some weird-ass other tip, and if I could get instrumentals of full albums, this would be one of the top ten I'd look for. The tape just reminds me of summertime and riding around drunk, feeling good at heart, ready for the chaos of shitty-assed Richmond which was where I was living, in a shithole of a lead-painted apartment with three other dudes, one of whom was a heroin junkie and hosted regular overdoses in the bathtub, right before the serial rapist moved in who was selling weed for me (which caused me to move out because I only trusted dude to sell weed for me, not to live with me, though I didn't know he was a serial rapist back then, and he raped both men and women, so if I had known, I wouldn't have let him sell weed for me at all).
But this tape is great, and I've always loved some DJ Quik. And then a month or two ago, I buy an issue of crappy ass Murder Dog magazine, which much like Ozone magazine is like a high school fanzine, but with really glossy pages and lots of famous rappers in it. But they had an interview with DJ Quik where they ask him what he means when he says he's mastered music. Quik answers, "Think about it. I understand majors, minors, diminished, augments and dissonance. Musical terms, if you don't know. I understand how these affect the mind and soul. For example, Dr. Dre has always used dissonance in his music because he wants to achieve a theatrical effect, but I understand if you use dissonance the wrong way, you can cause people to fuck shit up in a certain way. Thre is a message in that music. So if I use dissonance in music, it was only because it was really called for. Dissonance is like police brutality, like a strong force, so I'm careful when I use that. If you notice on the song 'Jet Set' - one of the worst records I ever wrote because of what I was going through - I still made the music major and said what I had to say in a clear, monotone voice so that nobody could misconstrue what I was saying. When you listen to the song there is no question about it; you know exactly what I was going through. I'm going through trying to get my family grow and they won't grow, and that is a sad thing. I'm the kind of nigga that will support them up to a point, until they start tearing down the fruit stand. You feel me? If you are going to wreck the fruit for everybody, then you don't need to be in this facility." Now, Quik could be completely full of shit, but even if it is bullshit and he believes in it wholeheartedly and uses it as a foundation for his creations, that's the shit. Inspiration. It's what makes a difference between being some shithead preacher calling for the end of faggotry or being a preacher who can cut a spine-tingling sermon that makes you not hate that motherfucker you hate so much for a few hours. If I ever become dictator/overlord of some third world country, I'm totally gonna hire Quik to do my propaganda music. And we're gonna keep working towards getting a nuclear bomb. Fuck America.
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