Notes & Personnel Info |  | Additional personnel: Chingy, AMG , Jodeci, Ludacris, Nate Dogg, T.I., B Real, The Game, Wyclef Jean. | | If Henry Mancini had grown up composing music in Compton, it might have sounded something like the tracks on TRAUMA (INSTRUMENTALS). DJ Quik, a rapper/producer who began mining the West Coast hardcore/G-funk sound in 1991, is usually flanked by plenty of MCs, but this outing strips the vocal tracks from his TRAUMA album to display the groovy backing magic within. There is still a fair bit of old-school, bass-heavy bounce here, but the subtle symphony of horn lines, strings, guitar riffs, and other samples--which ends up sounding like a quirky soundtrack to a Blaxploitation film that never was--is surprisingly fun and interesting. | | DJ Quik is the essence of West Coast Hip-Hop, having been there from the early days when Compton was asserting itself as the voice of rap as the 1980s bled into the 1990s, and TRAUMA, the rapper/producer's seventh album and first in 3 years, finds Quik as relevant and potent in both lyrics and beats as when he dropped QUIK IS THE NAME. Never flashy, Quik finds art in simplicity, as with the laid-back groove of "Black Mercedes," and the rapid-fire spitting about relationships and distractions on "Catch 22." |
Musical Guests | | B Real | | Nate Dogg | | Chingy | | Wyclef Jean | | T.I. | | Ludacris | | Jodeci |
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