Although the mainstream may have never given him his just dues, DJ Quik is perhaps one of the most venerated and innovative emcees and producers to hail from the west coast. But on his recent retrospective mixtape with LA LeakersThe Audio Biography Of David, the legendary Compton artist revealed that at one time, he was going for the neck of his California compatriot and “Put It On Me” collaborator Dr. Dre.
Quik explains on the outro of “Youz a Ganxta” that his 2000 song “U Ain’t Fresh” was intended as a diss at the Good Doctor. He says that he felt Dre had dissed him on the Xzibit and Eminem-featured song “What’s the Difference” with the line about the N.W.A. reunion, and decided to respond. Quik went on to say, however, that it was Xzibit who helped mediate and squash their feud before it could materialize.
“At this point…I was mad at Dr. Dre,” confessed Quik. “I thought he dissed me on the record ‘Between Me and You’ when he was like, talking about a N.W.A. reunion. I thought he just shitted on me, so I let it marinate for a long time. I can’t just take no diss, because at that point I was trying to work with Dre and I was sending messages to him and it was like he was ignoring them or [his] people just weren’t giving him the messages, so I did this record like fuck Dr. Dre. I was really mad. I was pissed, so I was like fuck it, who gives a fuck?
“Ultimately, Xzibit told me I was wrong, like ‘No man, he wasn’t talking about you,” he said. “That wasn’t even about you.’ It’s not like he was shitting on me, it’s just that with the whole N.W.A [reunion], because I wanted to Eazy-E’s part if they had ever done an N.W.A. reunion…so X cleaned it all up and let me know I had jumped the gun and was tripping. I don’t even know if Dre heard the song, this shit was probably so far under his radar that it didn’t matter…but I was wrong. I ain’t perfect. Then Dre…called me and we ended up working together. So I had to pout and scream like a spoiled brat and damn near diss the man to get in the studio with him. Funny how life works.”
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DJ Quik’s Book of David is due April 19.
