As an artist based on the West Coast, Compton, California musician DJ Quik says he had a relationship with Top Dawg and those in Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE) prior to their recent success.
He says he was friends with Top Dawg before he was “getting that much of a look” and recalled recruiting TDE lyricist Jay Rock for a NBA Live 10 record that would ultimately feature Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar, Kurupt, and Murs. DJ Quik revealed that once the higher ups got a hold of the song, the price they were offered jumped drastically. He then went on to attribute the song’s success to the addition of Kendrick.
“Top Dawg is my guy, man,” DJ Quik said while speaking with DJ Skee. “From the time where he wasn’t even getting that much of a look to now where they got their baseball caps on Korean kids. Ya dig? In Japan. It’s a wrap. I mean, he did it right. He kept it going and it grew honestly. Kendrick, Jay Rock, and your Ab-Soul they’re just talented people that deserve to sell records…I listened to some of his mixtapes. Like the Section.80 mixtape. And I called Jay Rock cause I wanted Jay Rock to be on a song that I was doing for the NBA Live 10 video game, ESPN Sports. So, Kurupt came and Jay Rock came and he brought Kendrick. And Kendrick did the hook on it. And when EA Sports heard the song with Murs and Kendrick and Jay Rock and Kurupt—dude, they changed the money scheme. It went up…It went from being this price to this price. And I’m sure that was because of Kendrick Lamar.”
The Compton lyricist continued to speak on K-Dot as he recalled labeling the rapper “the future of Hip Hop” before his rap career took off and proclaiming that he knew Kendrick “was gonna be hot.”
DJ Quik later revealed that prior to Michael Jackson’s passing in June of 2009, he was scheduled to tour with the singer.
“I was about to tour with Michael before he passed…We were talking about me opening up some of the shows at the O2 Arena back in 2009…I would have been big in Europe,” he said. “I would have been opening for Michael, the king of pop. And me and Kurupt put out a record right around the same time called BlaQKout. And were just warming up. We were on tour for like a month or two and then the next month I was gonna go on tour with Michael. And he died. And when he died I lost my mind. We were on tour like in Arizona. I was out there like drunk and mad and hurt.”
In late 2013, DJ Quik spoke on what will be his ninth studio album. He revealed that he received a budget for the project and that it will boast a more “youthful” sound.
“I’m channeling DJ Quik from 1989,” he said during an interview with Extended Play in December. “I’m sampling my old shit and thinking like the old DJ Quik from 1989. I’m biting me from then. I won’t be impressed until I sound as youthful and naive as I used to. I don’t want the smarts anymore. Smarts don’t really work. Smarts are boring. In music, sometimes, you just gotta throw caution to the wind, say, ‘What the fuck,’ and do what you feel.”
