DJ Quik - Trauma: Album Review

DJ Quik, Trauma (Some Fake Label, 2005)
Most rappers come out of retirement because they realize they're miserable people with no internal lives and they don't have shit else better to do but sit around and polish their collections of clean, white tennis shoes. I'm assuming DJ Quik just ran out of money.

DOCTOR'S OFFICE

A pointless sort of "intro to the intro."

INTRO FOR ROGER

I think the idea here (it really isn't spelled out well at all) is that he's laid out on a shrink's sofa going over his various issues being a broke has been rapper from the perpetually vapid and irrelevant West Coast. Of course he doesn't actually say as much, but that's basically what I took from it.

FANDANGO

Speaking of irrelevant, he managed to get B-Real to temporarily stop doing whatever it is he does these days to drop a verse on this.

TIL' JESUS COMES

Not that he's an especially gifted rapper, but it's nice to see him attempt to address some issues other than hoes, hoes and more hoes. Besides, we know he's actually gay anyway. Nullus.

BLACK MERCEDES

Nate Dogg does typical Nate Dogg thing on the chorus to this, which amazingly still manages to be somewhat amusing so many years after the fact.

GET UP

Teh Ghey drops that same dumbass verse on this that he's kicked on a million different songs, and of course manages to mention some dead rapper, in this case 2Pac.

GET DOWN

DJ Quik and Chingy must be seeing each other. I mean seriously, they're always hanging out in videos together and doing songs on each other's albums... and they're both dl brothers...

LADIES AND THUGS

Speaking of people who might have AIDS, does it even make sense financially to have Wyclef on your album at this point? What were the numbers on that last album of his. This is so not 1997.

CATCH 22

Another of the few actual solo tracks here, this lacks basically anything worthwhile musically to recommend it.

INDISCRETIONS IN THE BACK OF THE LIMO

I'm starting to get real tired of this damn TI. (The rapper, I mean.) He's on literally every other rap album that's come out this year (I checked) and he's really not that good. Same thing goes with motherfucking "Bun B." It's like, we get it already.

SPUR OF THE MOMENT

Wasn't this already on that last Ludacris album that came out like a year ago? I guess this was just that good, huh?

QUIKSTRUMENTAL

Oh, I get it, DJ Quik's version of an instrumental actually has vocals running throughout. That's creative. Kanye West would've never thought of that! Gotdamn Time magazine.

JET SET

You wish he could've did an album with more songs like this and "Til' Jesus Comes" rather than so many of these songs with b and c-level guest appearances.

CALIFORNIA

And this one, featuring long-time WC AMG, ain't that bad, either.

COMMENTS: Garbage. If you feel bad about Quik not being able to pay down the interest on his MasterCard, pick up another copy of Quik is the Name to keep in your car. This is for hardcore fans only.

BEST TRACKS: "Fandango" "Til' Jesus Comes"