DJ Quik is reminding the world that he believes he’s on Dr. Dre’s level.
On Tuesday (July 22), the legendary producer and rapper responded to a post on Threads where someone compared the two.
“DJ Quik is actually who everyone thinks Dr. Dre is,” wrote the fan.
Quik hopped in the comments to respond. “Finally. Someone had the balls to say it,” he wrote.
Quik and Dre are both legendary producers and rappers from Compton who shaped the 1990s with their unique styles. (And both have been named Complex’s Best Producer Alive: Quik for 1991, and Dre for 1992 and 1999.)
While Quik has had more than his fair share of success over the years, Dre has consistently been the more popular artist, even though they’ve both contributed to hip-hop for decades.
Quik has, in addition to his own work, contributed to big songs associated with Dre. He told the guys at Drink Champs that he came up with the hook for Dre and 2Pac‘s “California Love,” and he revealed to the Village Voice that he provided drum sounds for 50 Cent‘s “In Da Club.”
“[Most people] don’t even know why they like that song ‘In Da Club’ by 50 Cent,” he said. “They just know that they’ve heard it more than any other song, and it never gets old somehow. Well, it’s because I helped Dr. Dre with the drums. I gave him those claps, and that kick. He acknowledges that now.”
Back in 2022, Quik said something similar to his comment this week: that he believes he deserves to have the same recognition Dre gets. He took to X to explain why he should be in the same conversation as his “big brother.”
“I know it’s early. But I deserve to be where Dre is,” wrote Quik. “I don’t think it’s fair, but I understand why. I’ve never had a machine behind me that always hurt my friends more than it did me. My friends have come to me in confidentiality to say ‘Do your music like you want to. Just be DJ Quik! People love that sh*t!’”
“This doesn’t need to be on a podcast,” Quik continued. “Because you have fire starters, who want to spin everything to get more ratings. But the truth is: I love Dr. Dre, like a big brother, one I never had. It pains me when people pit us against each other.”
Quik also expressed his belief that he’ll never get the flowers and popularity that he deserves, but he’s cool with it because of how he’s helped turn other artists into superstars.
“There is no automatic winning lottery ticket for everyone, Periodt. On this planet, you get what you get. But it’s what you do with what you have been given to work with that makes you a star,” wrote Quik. “I know I’ll never be as popular as I need to be, but I have 10s of artists superstars! And when they shine, I just smile. The janitor doesn’t get all the glory, but he keeps the backstage, clean as a triage.”
