While his only worthy contemporary, Dr. Dre, continued to tease with leaked tracks and missed release dates, West Coast rapper/producer DJ Quik kept banging them out, releasing The Book of David just two years after his collaboration with Kurupt, BlaQKout. In the world of G-funk, that’s an incredibly quick turnaround, which is the unreasonable reason Quik’s releases are undervalued by any but the West Coast faithful. Shame really, since The Book of David is as well-crafted and vital release that can stand toe to toe with the 2011 competition, coming at the listener as cocksure as Jeezy or T.I. at times (check the truly vicious “Ghetto Rendezvous” for proof) while giving up some lighter numbers the Stones Throw or alt-rap crowd could hang with (best example, “Luv of My Live” with Detroit’s Gift Reynolds on the mike). There’s something for every thug in these Zapp and Parliament-influenced productions, along with some envelope-pushing moments, like the analog mysticism of the Bizzy Bone feature “Babylon,” or the stern sounds of “Poppin’,” which come off as a bizarre, time travel blend of West Coast and Weimer Republic. Quik’s fans get plenty of his Eazy-E like insults (“Your hair is falling out, my hair is growing in/I put my hair in curls, and put yours in the garbage bin”) and unnamed targets to guess at, plus with Kurupt, Bun B, Ice Cube, and even Suga Free on board, the guest list reads like an elder statesmen’s summit. Top it off with a closer from the late P-Funk guitarist Garry Shider, and the old school’s heart is on fire, but The Book of David is no nostalgia trip. This is Quik in top form and pointed at the future, ignoring all fads and focused on what is real. – David Jeffries