“I been on my own, 30 years strong.”
DJ Quik never stops evolving, man. After a career of ups and downs, in terms of both style and success, the legendary Compton producer/rapper manages to keep pushing forward at all costs, using his gut to drive his direction.
Always an open book, Quik is pushed by an innate ability to deliver advice in an easily digestible manner, allowing him to speak passionately in multiple ways. Sometimes his reality checks are delivered via dance grooves like “Sexuality” and other times they’re delivered on somber grooves like “Jet Set.” When time came for the CPT OG to speak on our country’s racial discrimination issue with “Black Friday,” Quik decided he wasn’t going to go hard or turn up the tempo — traditional soul was most straightforward.
Using a brand new singsong flow and sparse instrumental your auntie and uncle would slow-dance to in the living room, the always-outspoken underdog delicately delivers 20/20 observations that display both optimism and fear, explaining how focusing on the bad energy can and will take over even the best of us. He goes on to suggests that if Tupac were here, he’d be helping keep the peace, but instead, negativity brought him down.
“If Pac was here, he’s write a song that’d calm you down / And I would maybe produce it, give it that Compton sound / He only haunts me now, I’ve seemed to tune him further / I knew the rap magazines would instigate his murder”
Basically, DJ Quik has upped his game once again. However, this go round, he’s doing more with less. Furthermore, his message couldn’t be more important or timely. The best artists stand up in time of need and the Quiksta definitely stepped up to the plate with this one. Listen below.
