How DJ Quick Stuck in the Game and Learned to Protect His Assets.

April 16, 2020 Guest User

DJ Quik

How DJ Quick stuck in the game and learned to protect his assets.

He was the first rapper to ever have a billboard in the Hollywood Hills on Sunset. He’s been in the game for 14 years and signed with Profile Records at the young age of 18. By the time he was 21, while a lot of other young people were happy to be at the legal drinking age DJ Quik was already incorporated. From the streets he already known how to hustle but the music industry was whole new game. Quik said “I didn’t know the business. It was great as far as the exposure and everything but at the same time we didn’t take home any mailbox money. We got screwed around a little bit but that’s what you owe to the game when you get in like that, back in those days at least.”

As far as being an artist or a producer Quik enjoys them both equally. “It’s 2-way different hats to wear but they both work when they work, and I can walk in and out of both of those doors fluently. It’s like asking Jay-Z which he prefers being an artist or businessman. You have to be both and I’m all right with it” says Quik.

His heart is a little harder now due to some of the learning experiences he’s stumbled across during his long stint in the industry. “I was a real gregarious dude as a DJ. I wanted to see everybody having a good time and everybody partying. I use to do it at my expense until I realized that it will run out, people do get old in the game, people get tired and your ability to make the kind of money you did when you first came out is so different than the way your pay comes when it’s later in the game.” “I’ve learned to be more frugal shall we say. I’ve become more prudent as far as the way I deal with my funds, the way I deal with my allotments and the way I handle my business. I’ve learned a lot for a youngster from the ghetto” said Quik. But there were some things that he didn’t know. Quik phrases it as “They ended up bitin’ me in the ass later. They were things I wish I had known as a kid. It probably would have helped me avoid some of the pitfalls I hit in the business.” Not realizing the seriousness of his commitment Quik feels that he kind of signed his life away when he signed a contract with Profile Records at such a young age. Due to how one-sided recording contracts can be “It’s kind of put a dent in my love for being an artist” says Quik. He said it was like he was no longer an artist he felt more like a ho for Profile. Quik says things were a lot better at Arista Records as far as the business went.

And where business is concerned Quik has definitely learned his lessons and suggest to any new artist getting into the game “Protect your assets because you won’t be making money forever. Get in and maximize. Do like 50 Cents, strike while the iron is hot and get all that you can and be smart with it, so that you can build a nest egg for yourself in the future. Corporations will protect your assets against frivolous lawsuits. Learn the business and get incorporated. It’s worth it!”

When it’s all said and done Quik wants his legacy to be remembered as the cat that defied the odds. The one that went through it the hard way, like he rode through the choppy waters of the ocean on a jet ski, made it to the island, grabbed a gang of rare gold bars and diamonds and came back with that $hi*. Back across the choppy water with nothing more than a little bit of gas burned out of his jet ski. He wants to be remembered as the one that did the impossible, the one that blazed crazy trails and even though he hit rocky water he came out of it on track, making the best music of his life and doing the right thing. Having doors open to me that weren’t necessarily opened before. “A lot of people don’t do that anymore, people kind of just follow the cattle to the hill, to the slaughterhouse. I can see that from way back at the end of the line and I’m not trying to be in that line.

LIFE: Life is more than existing. Life is learning, life is going through trials and learning that you don’t want to do that $hi* anymore when it hurts and not grieving about the lost time doing something that didn’t work. Life is like knowing that you have another chance- “That’s when I really feel alive”

LOVE: Love to me is like my man Darryl Reed (R.I.P), one of my best friends described it to me, He said “Love is a confused state of mind that seizes the heart with an illusion that is both passion and persuasive”. I didn’t understand it as a kid, but I see it now, like the way people twist love and lust up. I’m picky about who I even say the word love to in general conversation. Love is a dangerous word. I don’t believe that you can actually hate a person without having loved them first.

DEATH: Death is more than just the end of life, death can be the end of trouble, death can be the end of strife. You can die from some things and live in others. Like me, I die from the whole f**ked up regressive hood mentality. I’ve had my death of that $hi*. Now I’m on to big business, I’m on to infrastructure, to building, to picking my team and being a leader. Also, on the spiritual side you can actually talk death into existence a lot of people don’t understand that. You have to be careful what you vocalize, what you put into the universe because the universe is a living, breathing membrane and it responds to energy. So, when people talk about death and killing and all of that, they end up perpetuating that and it happens.

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This article was originally published in Flossin Magazine. This article is edited by Edna Waters. This article is optimized for web by Steven Christian (Artist | Author | Podcaster).