DJ Quik recently released the video for “Puffin The Dragon,” a highlight from last year’s The Midnight Life album. Speaking with FADER last winter, Quik described his approach as, “a little bit of Soul Train, a little bit of bullet train.” “Puffin The Dragon” is a perfect example of this—equal parts brassy hip-hop swagger and classic R&B groove. Quik delivers his verses in an easy, conversational style, and the video is simple—mostly the clip follows the MC as he drives to Vegas with some contraband in his trunk. The rhymes are endearingly self-deprecating: Still the one man band, still a hip hop fan/ A producer from Old Spruce, but with a mic and a band/ I’m not as passionate about it, but I hit now and then.
Read FADER’s Beat Construction interview with Quik.
