DJ Quik Addresses The Retirement Talk & Issues W/ Younger Artists: “They’re F**king Out Of Their Minds”

Written By S. Samuel

West Coast music icon DJ Quik has come clean on remarks he made this week about his status in the entertainment industry and why record labels have him going to the edge.

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While he would not signal out retirement for good, Quik dished out his issues with the music biz.

“I wouldn’t call it retirement,” Quik said. He explained that while he still has plans to get rid of his production equipment, he did not rule out producing for “real projects” for established artists. Quik’s statement was fueled by his discontent with today’s music industry model, which hasn’t paid as well–monetarily or respect-wise–as it once did. “There is a bunch of things that I don’t understand about how this new business works,” Quik said. “Traditionally, I get paid for engineering and mixing people’s records, and there used to be a king’s ransom in that back in the day. Now, there is so little that it’s not important. There’s not enough money to warrant sitting in the studio with people and learning your trade secrets for two or three grand, it’s not worth it. So I took that off my resume. It’s off my resume so no more engineering for these new artists.” (XXL Mag)

The respected producer also spoke on the younger generations of artists irking him.

“When it comes to trying to teach the new wave of people or help these guys and shit like we used to do, there’s no real record companies paying for this sh*t,” Quik said, explaining his reasons for not wanting to help younger artists. “These are trade secrets that I’m gonna ultimately take to my grave with me. I’m just not gonna teach people how to sell 100 million records. They are f*cking out of their minds.” While Quik seems to have little interest in helping young artists out these days, he stated that he is not actually bitter with his position as an older rap veteran in the industry. “It’s not about being bitter,” Quik said. “It’s annoying. I’m not going to do things for free for you guys when I’ve charged five or six figures to do this for relevant, real chart-topping artists. I can’t just go and give it away for free because I love it. That’s prostitution.” (XXL Mag)

Earlier in the week, Quik appeared to announce his retirement from the music industry.

“It’s official. I’m selling all my equipment. Furthermore, I will not remix or engineer for anyone from this day forward. Thanks true Fans.,” he tweeted October 28. (DJ Quik’s Twitter)

Over the summer, Atlanta producer Zaytoven crowned Quik SOHH Underrated.

“For me, I would have to name DJ Quik for SOHH Underrated. I was always a really big DJ Quik fan. I thought he was the greatest thing since white bread and I don’t recall him blowing up as big. He was really one of my all-time favorites. He’s got classics to his name. The 90’s is when I really got to know him. I remember I wasn’t evne allowed to listen to rap music because there was so much cussing in it. Back then, “Dollars And Sense” really got me. That’s when I started getting into his tunes and then from there, I started buying his albums. It’s been years that I’ve been a fan of DJ Quik. I can’t even think about how far back that was. That had to be in ’95 or even ’94.” (SOHH Underrated)

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Written by S. Samuel

Steven Samuel is the co-founder of SOHH.com.

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