Skip to content
Reviews

DJ Quik, ‘The Book of David’ (Mad Science/Fontana)

Iconoclastic rapper-producer DJ Quik wanted his tenth album to sound like missing tapes from funk-soaked 1991. Instead, it’s from an incredible year that never existed, blending baroque ’80s roller jams, velvety ’90s slow-rides, contemporary Dam-Funk swooshwave, and a breakdown with the late P-Funk guitarist Garry Shider. For every vintage Quik banger, there’s a rhythmically unique implosion of backmasked “Paul Revere” drums and Madvillainous drone (“Poppin'”). Lyrically, he’s back to his old tricks – shitting on haters, shouting out himself, somehow rhyming “orange” and having “diamonds like kablooie.”