In a time where seemingly every iconic artist loves AI, it’s not often you hear one vehemently against it. Typically, people are always attempting to justify it as a tool or cop to its inevitability. But a West Coast legend like DJ Quik is actually firmly against the medium.
In an interview clip captured by Pigeons & Planes, he called any use of generative AI in music “a total violation of culture.” “It’s appropriation. You can’t recreate somebody that’s still here doing what they do… That computer is not gonna have my nuances. I watch AI programs, and it mispronounces words. It ain’t ready yet. I’d rather have bad human material than good AI material,” DJ Quik said.
Naturally, this made people juxtapose Quik’s thoughts with Dr. Dre cosigning AI usage in music. He argued in an interview next to longtime friend and business partner Jimmy Iovine that “the only people that see it as a threat are the people who have trouble creating.”
Additionally, he attempted to make sense of the AI phenomenon by comparing it to past forms of music technology. Eventually, it was normalized and is even encouraged in music today, despite initial backlash to the medium.
DJ Quik Calls Out AI in Music, In Contrast to Dr. Dre
“I had a discussion with a few people a few days ago,” Dre recalled. “They were against AI, and I’m like, ‘OK, you sound like the person that would have been against the drum machine when it came out.’ Or synthesizers, right? It’s a new tool for creativity. Some people are afraid of learning new things.”
It’s natural to place DJ Quik and Dr. Dre against each other. They’re two giants in the world of rapping and producing, especially on the West Coast in the 90s. But for a long time, Dre would often get the bulk of the love and adulation.
Consequently, when someone said that “DJ Quik is actually who everyone thinks Dr. Dre is” back in 2025, the Safe & Sound MC let out a sigh of relief. “Finally. Someone had the balls to say it,” he replied at the time.
Similarly, Quik himself argued that they should be looked at on equal footing. “I know it’s early. But I deserve to be where Dre is,” he wrote back in 2022. “I don’t think it’s fair, but I understand why. I’ve never had a machine behind me that always hurt my friends more than it did me.”
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