DJ QUIK : For This Hot Rap Upstart, Compton Is Party Central

Compton: Fun City?

That’s the way DJ Quik paints it in his first album, “Quik Is the Name,” a bestseller that has established him as one of the year’s hottest arrivals in rap.

The point of Quik’s album is that if you like to party, then Compton’s the place for you--perfect for smoking dope, chasing women and hanging out with your buddies.

“The fun part makes it so the grim part of living there doesn’t tear you apart,” said Quik, 21.

It’s Quik’s approach to women that has generated criticism. While savoring a fast-food lunch at the the West Hollywood offices of his label, Profile Records, Quik didn’t say anything that would endear him to women.

“In my business I meet a lot of devious women who can turn you into a sexist,” he explained. “Hang around them for a while, and then see how you feel about women.”

Quik characterizes his album as almost gangsta-rap. “It’s not as violent or preachy as what Ice Cube and Eazy-E and those guys do,” he said. “It’s like a day in the life in the ‘hood. “

Regarding his own purported gang membership, which he had vigorously denied in the past, Quik is finally coming clean.

“Yes, I was a gang member,” he offered, saying that peers have urged him to take pride in his background as a member of the Bloods. “But I never did some of the bad things the other guys did or tried to talk me into--like drive-bys (drive-by shootings). I’ve never shot anybody, and I was never in a gang fight.”

Quik was born David Blake, the youngest of 10 children. He bade farewell to the gang scene in 1987, when he started hanging out with an older, wiser crowd. Quik, a hip-hop fanatic for as long as he can remember, didn’t get serious about a rap career until a few years ago, leading to the Profile Records contract.

While boosting Compton on the one hand, Quik still admits there’s trouble in this party paradise--for him anyway. That’s why he plans to move out this month.

“People are jealous of me now that I’m a star,” he explained. “I’m a target now. They harassed my sister while I was on tour. Some fool may sneak (up) one night and try to get me. I don’t need the headache of sleeping with a loaded .44 next to me so I can blow some fool away. Compton is fun all right--as long as you’re not me.”