[2] While putting the finishing touches on Snoop Dogg’s acclaimed Ego Trippin album in early 2008, DJ Quik had an idea.

Anyone expecting a courageous game changer will be disappointed by all the swaggering, sexual bragging, and irresponsible pimping the duo frontload onto the effort, but coming to terms with the overall weekend attitude is quick and easy, thanks to rock-solid hooks and Quik's production.

he creates a head-bobbing backing track out of chopped-up vocals and Smooth jazz keyboards, offering a G-funk alternative to Timbaland's "Indian Flute."

Club rated the album with a (B+) and wrote DJ Quik has long been one of the most consistent producers in Hip hop, as well as a skilled (though sometimes ridiculously sexist) MC.

But he’s seldom been in the lean, adventurous form he explores on BlaQKout, a collaboration with Dogg Pound member Kurupt.

Quik’s tracks are head-turning throughout: The blistering single “9X Outta 10” features Kurupt at his steeliest and takes the minimal slam-beats aesthetic of Clipse’s 2002 hit “Grindin'” to a lush new place, especially when a couple of cut-up female vocals enter the mix.

“Do You Know” is cinematic soul with his usual easy-gliding groove slipping around under it; “Ohh!” calls up early-’80s Zapp and early-’00s 2-step garage (more cut-up vocals); North African overtones spice the heavy stomp of “Hey Playa (Moroccan Blues).” The lyrics aren’t going to win awards for thematic originality, and there’s an especially egregious spoken-word bit poorly justifying the excessive use of the word “bitch,” but most of the time, Quik and Kurupt sound invigorated by each other.

The first is g-funk, a production style that relies on deep, open grooves and an endless parade of funk samples.

The fact that Quik has inhabited both worlds for two decades is a pretty nifty trick: he can go "out there" without disappearing completely, and he can talk about problems in the ghetto without sounding as if he lived at the Gap.

"Do You Know" has a glamorous sweep that suggests something like wise retrospection, and it leads right into "Watcha Wan Do," which could be the funky soundtrack to a Zelda game.

It all might seem like preamble when you finally get to "Jupiter's Critic and the Mind of Mars," which may be the weirdest slice of rap genius since "A Milli."

Quik has some of Prince's little-guy arrogance, and here it's nearly schizoid: "It's character, you miss it?/It's America, you visit?/Did you get on a boat without a ticket?"