What are you listening to?

With little fanfare DJ Quik's latest album "Trauma" has arrived. The album didn't receive a lot of pre-release hype and the project seems to have bounced from label to label (Warner sent me an early press release in May, then later I was contacted by Capital), but the project seems to have found a home on Quik's Mad Scientist label.

As an avid Quik fan the first thing I noticed about "Trauma" is the number of features from people outside of his regular little clique (Suga Free, Mauseburg (who has passed but you know with hip-hop people can get on tracks as we are still hearing new music from B.I.G.), Second II None, El Debarge).

Quick seems to have stretched this go round and it works really well. The song "Get Down" featuring Chingy is a hot song which could have easily been a radio single. Wyclef Jean shows off a new side of his lyrical style on the song "Ladies & Thugs." Other hot tracks include "Indiscretions In The Back of a Limo" featuring T.I. and "Pacific Coast Remix" featuring Ludacris.

The album opens up with the skit doctors office which is followed by "Intro For Roger." This song features a nice little beat. Quik's lyrics though make one reflect, especially the line, "My best friend is dead, my heart is a stone." Quik has gone through a lot of stuff as far as dealing with the loss of friends to the streets and one can assume failed relationships based on his lyrics. He doesn't hold back lyrically and seems to express himself quite well. The track for the first single "Fandago" is crazy wild but I wasn't as impressed with the lyrics as I was the beat/track. The song "Get Up" featuring The Game and long time collaborater AMG is a really good song.

Trauma's music transcends the future of rap music in American culture. Sincere, Florida born lyrics over captivating drama music. While the 808 State is commonly referred to as the bass state, Trauma is representing the third coast with something the world has not been ready for, until now. What some may consider to be hard-core rap music, Trauma music is in actuality, an amalgamation of heart-thumping kick drums blended with live instruments influenced by the the roots of all hip hop; revisiting the blues, gospel, funk, and jazz, this album is truly a musical masterpiece in the making. Poetically, Trauma combines a spellbinding collection of mystifying rhymes and storytelling at it's finest. The long awaited LP 'Traumatized' is scheduled for a 2001 release on the Astro Fonk label. The single, entitled 'when the sun goes down', was co-produced by delta9records, recorded in Atlanta, Georgia and mixed in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Trauma appeared on the 1998, nationally released, 'Southern Invasion' on Stra8 Atcha records, with the track, 'if you don't hustle', followed by several regional releases in Florida. Be sure to request 'when the sun goes down' on all of your favorite hip hop radio stations.