DJ Quik On Making Luv Of My Life And Real Women For Book Of David

In honor of 4/20 here is something that you should read under the influence but is just as insightful sober. DJ Quik, the Compton California OG producer and MC, has just released his eighth album The Book Of David. If you haven’t ingested the female-friendly sonics of “Real Women” or “Luv Of My Life” head over to your favorite online retailer and make it happen stat. When Mr. David Blake spoke with hip-hop production site Nodfactor.com about the musical inspirations behind his latest work he took the time to explain how we see music as well as hear it. Take a look.

There are more sonic colors on this record than I’m used to using. They’re complex, they’re moody, they’re emotive but they’re fun at the same time. It sounds like…I think of records like Donny Hathaway….they have real red tones in them. And puce. They’re minor 9ths so they’re colorful and they make you feel something as soon as you hear em. As opposed to a C major or C minor chord, those are like blue notes in a sense. B Flats. In hip-hop “Sweet Black P*ssy” is a red record. “Tonight” is a bluish record it’s a like a burgundy bluish. “Born And Raised In Compton” is brown. It’s Isaac Hayes, his skin color and his record label. Just brown because that groove is so funky. The first Barkay’s band did that. The ones that crashed in that plane with Otis Redding. They were the house band for Stax. That’s where I sampled that sh*t from. Records like “Luv of My Life” are reddish, greenish, orange. “Real Women” is clear, it’s colorless. It’s a white diamond. I sampled that from Dave Grushen and Angela Bofill. Don’t you love my range and my diversity?

Quik also explains why he made the songs and the reason they were released first:

Who doesn’t love John B? The last record we’ve heard him on was Tupac’s “Are You Still Down?” That’s not fair. John B means more to R&B than that, so why wouldn’t I support my brother and put him back on the radio where he belongs. It’s an ode to the women we really admire. I admire Sylvia Rhone. She’s beautiful to me. Debra Lee at BET. Cathy Hughes. We did it for women like that. Even though they’re a little out of my range, they got me in cougar town, but I still look up to fine women.

DJ Quik’s The Book Of David is out now!