Happy 35th Anniversary to DJ Quik’s debut album Quik Is The Name, originally released January 15, 1991.
Of the many Los Angeles based artists signed in the wake of the success of N.W.A and Eazy-E, David “DJ Quik” Blake was arguably the most talented. A skilled emcee, DJ, and producer, he has showcased a seemingly bottomless well of genius throughout his over three-decades-strong career, asserting himself as a transcendent artist. And if you copped his debut album Quik Is The Name 35 years ago, you certainly would not be surprised that he has ascended to such heights.
The Compton-born Quik used N.W.A as inspiration to begin his rap career. A teenager when the Straight Outta Compton (1988) dropped, he credits the group for giving him pride in the city of his birth. However, he decided to go a different route with his music. As he explained in an interview with Vibe, rather than playing up his gangsta bona fides (he was a member of the Tree Top Pirus), he decided to show a “softer side of Compton.”
“I looked at myself as the average homeboy in the ‘hood; the one that made it,” he explained in the article. “Ultimately I willed myself into the business.”
Quik had been working to build his career before Quik Is The Name dropped. He delivered a guest verse on the track “Hip House” on the Uzi Bros.’ Kick That Thang! (1990); the verse was a decent enough component of a not very good song or album.
Quik really began to garner attention for the Red Tape. The mixtape was Quik’s collaborative effort with the duo 2nd II None (Tha D and K.K.) and AMG, who appear throughout the project. Though it’s often cited as being released in 1987, he likely put it out sometime in 1990, due to many references (and vocal samples) that appear throughout the project. It also functioned as a way for Quik’s crew to workshop ideas. It features multiple early versions of songs that would turn up on their respective debut albums, as well as sketches of ideas that Quik would continue to flesh out down the line.
The Red Tape earned Quik attention from numerous established labels, particularly Profile Records and Select Records . He ended up signing with Profile, reportedly inking the imprint’s first six-figure deal. He released Quik Is The Name months later.
Quik Is The Name is a deft opening statement, showcasing a 19-year-old Quikster who’s simultaneously brash in all the ways that you’d expect a teen to be as well as wise beyond his years. Musically, Quik provides early evidence of his now widely acknowledged production genius. He makes use of sampled material but also incorporates live instrumentation. He both replays known songs and creates original compositions. He, like Eazy-E and Dr. Dre combined, possesses the humor and charisma of the former, while functioning as a visionary producer, much like the latter. And in terms of pure lyrical skill, he easily exceeds both.
Listen to the Album:
As alluded to earlier, Quik has a sharp sense of humor, and he starts off Quik Is The Name on an irreverent note with “Sweet Black Pussy.” Quik practically sweats charm as he bounces across the funky guitar track inspired by Blowfly’s “Incredible Fulk.” He expounds on his enjoyment of the pursuit of sexual gratification, talking trash, and even busting into a brief and raunchy rendition of Rose Royce’s “Ooh Boy.” He swaggers as he raps, “But some of these bitches try to act unfair / Maybe it’s because my hair is longer than theirs? / But I don't give a fuck, no I don't care / Because I'm like Noah's Ark: my bitches come in pairs.”
“Born And Raised In Compton” was the album’s breakout hit and put Quik on the map for all intents and purposes. The song initially appeared on the Red Tape, and features on Quik Is The Name without modification. Over a sample from Isaac Hayes’ “Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic,” Quik outlines the inherent dangers of living in the city of his birth, and establishes his bona fides as being able to survive and thrive through being raised in that environment.
Quik also provides his superhero/supervillain origin story, as he rails against the “silly sucker-ass clucker” who broke into his house, stole his equipment, and smashed his records. He explains how he used this violation as motivation to pursue his career in music. Years later, in an interview with Complex, Quik revealed that the thief was later shot and run over by a car. Hence, very much dead.
“Tonite,” the album’s second and most successful single, is also unique. With the first two verses, Quik describes his life as a young man “with a head like a brick” as he gets ready to enjoy a Friday night of partying, eventually descending into alcohol-fueled excess. Quik goes the extra step in the third verse, swearing to a higher power that “I'll never drink again if you just let me live” through his raging hangover, while lamenting “callin' Earl like a mother while I'm grippin the toilet.” Of course, his newfound piety doesn’t last beyond promises of “some fine ass bitches coming over at 4,” but at least he decides to indulge in Pina Coladas instead of 8-Ball.
Speaking of which, “8 Ball,” Quik’s dedication to Olde English 800 malt liquor, has always struck me as a weird inclusion on Quik Is The Name. N.W.A famously recorded a beloved song of the same name. Quik doesn’t shy away from the similarities, directly invoking the N.W.A track and sampling vocals from the song throughout his own reinterpretation of the material. The beat is the song’s most interesting component, built around a solid replaying of Herbie Hancock’s “Chameleon.”
Quik shines on “Loked Out Hood,” the most “gangsta” entry on the album. The song starts off as a tale of Quik traversing the city of Compton, running into more and more homies as the day progresses. The posse slowly, yet exponentially, increases in size, until it’s so deep that “we walk in twos,” and progressively grows more belligerent (and drunk/stoned) as the day turns to evening. Quik tells the tale in an extremely lackadaisical manner that he manages to make his crew thwarting an attempted drive-by with a hail of bullets sound like a laid-back endeavor.
The album’s title track, and third single, features Quik’s strongest straightforward lyrical performances, as he delivers battle-oriented rhymes at break-neck pace to a sample of Cameo’s “I Just Want To Be.” Quik boasts about his verbal prowess and aptitude with the dice, declaring that he’s “a pro-fession-al rhyme hoodlum / Hoochies all over my tip because I screwed 'em / One-time can't lock me up, cause I elude 'em / And bubblegum rappers can't fade me cause I chewed 'em.” Quik also acquits himself well behind the two turntables, providing a flurry of scratches throughout the song’s hook.
Quik features many of his aforementioned crew members throughout Quik Is The Name. In retrospect, this album served as a solid intro to the still unnamed crew, each of the components of the collective would drop an album by the end of the year.
Watch the Official Videos:
He teams with 2nd II None and AMG on “Deep,” one of the forgotten posse cuts of the era. Quik does an excellent job incorporating two separate samples from Fred Wesley and the Horny Horns (“Between Two Sheets” and “Fourplay”) with all four emcees dispensing braggadocio. K.K. proclaiming to roll “[d]eeper than the crack in ya momma’s pipe” is an unforgettable opening line. K.K. later asserts, “Two's and fo's, that n***a K throws heavy blows / Heavy enough to knock the snot out of n****s nose.”
“Tear It Off” features Quik and AMG getting wild to a “groove so hot that you would think that I baked this,” as they dispense their game to the opposite sex to a sample of James Brown’s “You Got To Have a Mother For Me.” The crew keeps things considerably looser on “Skanless,” where Quik, 2nd II None, and Hi-C deliver off-the-cuff rhymes, while AMG introduces the crew and does ad-libs throughout the track. Throughout the song, they all demonstrate the chemistry that’s kept them together for decades.
Quik’s versatility as an artist and producer is further displayed on songs like “Da Bombudd.” Here he creates a reggae/dancehall groove, delivering an early ode to smoking weed in pretty goofy, but still endearing patois. He had first experimented with creating a dancehall-styled track with Red Tape’s “Good Thing,” but “Bombudd” is considerably superior. “I Got That Feelin’” is Quik’s early foray into raunchy hip-hop love songs, where he delivers just-explicit-enough raps to a sample of The Emotions’ “A Feeling.”
The album also features the first installment of “Quik’s Groove.” The smooth and jazzy instrumental track first appears as the backing music to his “Dedication” shout-out track, but he expands upon it later in the album. The track was unlike much that appeared on any hip-hop album at the time, as Quik replays portions of Peter Brown’s “Without Love.” Famed hip-hop studio musician Stan “The Guitar Man” Jones provides both the guitar licks and the subtle bassline, making the song sound epic even at under two minutes in length.
Quik Is The Name was both a commercial and critical success, earning accolades and record sales. The album was certified Gold within months, and certified Platinum a few years later. Moreover, it established DJ Quik as a new creative voice. The album is a lot of fun, and started 1991—one of the best years in hip-hop history—off the right way.
Listen: