Way 2 Fonky (1992)

Unlike those other rap quasars from Compton, N.W.A, DJ Quik doesn't just give us frightening images from Black Cali alleys. This near-platinum poet may involve himself in verbal gunplay and narrate a few violent street adventures, but on his sophomore set Quik is more concerned with getting paid and laid than with gang wars and bloodbaths. As he declares in ''America'z Most Complete Artist,'' ''I don't go toe to toe, I go ho to ho.'' Quik's nasty, but he's no fool; he practices safe sex, '''cause HIV don't give a f--- about me.'' He's even willing to experiment musically and lyrically. Witness the sexually playful reggae track ''Me Wanna Rip Your Girl,'' where he adopts a Jafakean (fake Jamaican) accent. On the album's other tracks, he throws his thin yet effective countrified voice against sampled grooves that for the most part bounce and shake like hard-core Jell-O.