Quik

Real Name: David Martin Blake
D.O.B.: 18th January 1970 Compton, California

Label: Mad Science/Koch Records

He grew up without a father and moved out of his mother's home [436 W. Spruce Street, Compton] when he was only 17. He spelled his name without the "C" because, being a member of the Compton Blood set Tree Top Pirus he didn't want to offend anybody. In gang culture "ck" together would mean 'Crip Killer'. It was always thought that he had 8 sisters, but in a March 2007 interview he stated that he only had one, explaining that Profile Records at the time had suggested to add it to his background. He began selling homemade mixtapes (like The Red Tape, 1987) after he received a turntable for his 9th grade graduation and then began doing shows DJing around Southern California. He signed to Profile Records in the summer of 1990, reportedly as the label's first six figure signee. Not only could he write his own songs, he could produce as well.

His début album, Quik Is the Name was led by the success of two top 20 R&B singles, "Tonite" and "Born and Raised in Compton." The album ended up reaching 10th on the album charts and being certified Platinum by the RIAA. None of his successive albums reached the success of his début, though they have been well received, particularly his 1998 release "Rhythm-al-ism". On "Safe + Sound" appears "Dollaz + Sense," which was a diss track to Compton rapper and member of the rival Tragniew Park Compton Crips, MC Eiht. The two would make several threats and diss tracks to each other in the mid 1990's. Today, Quik is on good terms with MC Eiht. Quik also beefed with House of Pain lead MC, Everlast. On the Menace II Society (soundtrack), Quik dissed Everlast in his verse on "Can't Fuck Wit A Nigga".

He was chiefly inspired by funk and soul artists, such as Roger Troutman (who even taught him the use of the talkbox, which became a trademark for Quik's sound throughout his career) and George Clinton.

Though he is only credited for producing "Heartz of Men" on Tupac's acclaimed All Eyez On Me (in the credits he used his real name, David Blake, because under contract Profile did not allow him to use his stage name) he also did additional production and mixed half the album. In 2002, he produced Truth Hurts' Top 10 pop hit "Addictive". Quik used an uncleared Hindi sample on the record, and the copyright holders eventually filed a $500 million dollar lawsuit against Truth Hurts' label, Aftermath Entertainment. Quik also produced and appeared on another track on Truth Hurts' début LP, Truthfully Speaking, entitled I'm Not Really Lookin. Quik also produced the 2Pac song "Late Night" on the 2002 Better Dayz, which was originally done in the mid 1990's featuring AMG instead of the Outlawz.

Quik faced personal and professional tragedy when his close friend and protégé Mausberg was murdered on the 4th of July, 2000. Mausberg was robbed in the street and left for dead with gunshots to the chest. This was compounded by the death of his best friend Daryl Reed soon after.

After the lacklustre sales of his fifth album, Balance & Options released in 2000, he was dropped by Arista Records which in 1998 had bought Profile Records. In 2002 he released Under Tha Influence under Ark 21 Records which also sold poorly. In September 2005, DJ Quik released his first independent album on his own new label, Mad Science Recordings. The album is titled Trauma and reflects the turmoil in the producer's life over the past few years. In recent years he has worked with a 74 piece orchestra during a collaboration with Marcus Miller while working on the score to the movie "Head of State".

On June 28, 2006, DJ Quik began a five-month stint in jail for assaulting his sister. The incident occurred in 2003 when he allegedly pulled a gun during a family argument, according to police reports. DJ Quik was released early in October 2006 and began working on a DJ Quik & AMG collaboration album.

In preparation for the upcoming collaboration, which was expected for release in late 2007, DJ Quik and AMG formed the group: The Fixxers. Along with the formation of the duo, he dropped the "DJ" from his name for the upcoming album and rapped as "Quik". In March 2007 they had signed a single deal with Interscope Records for the release of their album "Midnight Life" and promoted it with "Can You Werk Wit Dat?" However, the album was scrapped due to unauthorized actions by business partners who illegally put it up for sale on the internet in December of 2007. The album was then spread across the internet as a bootleg. In February 2008, Quik finished up mixing and producing for Snoop Dogg's new record Ego Trippin. In the process of working with Snoop Dogg, a production group called QDT was formed. It stands for Quik-Dogg-Teddy and consists of DJ Quik, Snoop Dogg and Teddy Riley. It was also recently revealed that a collaboration album with Tha Dogg Pound member, Kurupt, is in the works and they have recorded one track so far.