The story behind DJ Quik’s ‘Jus Lyke Compton’
Given who his peers are, DJ Quik isn’t exactly Compton’s most famous rapper or producer. But he nonetheless is one of the city’s most important musical sons, whose music is firmly rooted in West Coast culture.
Excuse the pun, but Quik has always been quick to reference Compton in his music. The track ‘Jus Lyke Compton,’ for one, demonstrates his preoccupation with his hometown, with the lyrics reflecting on how so many other cities seem to have been shaped by Compton. Those he mentions include Oakland, San Antonio, St Louis and Denver.
‘Jus Lyke Compton’ featured on Quik’s second album, Way 2 Fonky, which came out in 1992, a year after his debut Quik Is the Name dropped. That first album had brought Quik a lot of success, but, as he reflected to Complex in 2012, he wasn’t too concerned about that. Even as he was touring and enjoying the fruits of success, he was “homesick” for his music.
But while Quik was dedicated to his music, some troubles were simmering. He had been affiliated with the Bloods at that time, or, as he put it, he had been “representing the B-card pretty tough.” This did not go down well with Crip-affiliated people he encountered while he was touring. This meant that “some crazy shit started happening on the road.”
While Quik wasn’t “a super-banged out gangbanger,” he admitted that he been “letting it be known” where his allegiances lie. His clothes and choice of colours around the time made it crystal clear.
Quik had, by his own estimation, been “naïve” about how far LA gang culture had spread. He hadn’t expected such a visceral reaction to his gang allegiances to come from people who didn’t even live in California, but that’s what happened. There were even riots sparked at the end of his gigs.
Quik claimed that his own behaviour on stage hadn’t been inciting, but some of his entourage had actively been aggressive. While he was focused on the music, they wanted “to sit on stage and fuck my shit up, throw glass bottles into the audience — you know, real irresponsible shit.”
This is when Quik realised that LA gang culture “is a movement bigger than me.” People were reacting incredibly intensely to it, even though they weren’t actually from LA. This is what inspired him to write ‘Jus Lyke Compton.’
“I wrote that because of the shit that I experienced,” he said, characterising the song as “a very visual assessment of the year prior.” Given what he had seen and experienced, he felt as if he hadn’t had “any choice but to do that record.”