DJ Quik is one of the best interviewees out right now. The same day Kendrick Lamar’s early-bird release of To Pimp A Butterfly is drawing some Quik comparisons, Montreality released the interview with the Compton, California musical O.G.

In this interview, Quik speaks on some highly topical issues, including T.P.A.B., as well as Suge Knight’s health and ongoing legal woes. Perhaps more notably, Quik really goes in on Nate Dogg’s influence, saying that the 213 singer’s hit-making abilities may actually outweigh that of Michael Jackson. Quik knows how to remember an anecdote, dropping details like Nate’s favorite brand of beer, Dr. Dre’s incessant gum-chewing, Eazy-E’s preferred cut of Guess shirts, and even the specific Volkswagen he purchased with his Quik Is The Name album advance.

Along the 17-minute interview, the longtime Profile/Arista Records star explains how being distraught and depressed after he was dropped led to hanging out in the studio with Dre, and offering the N.W.A. alum a special technique of sampling that would ultimately come into play with 50 Cent, Truth-Hurts, and Eminem. That winning formula charged Quik’s battery, and allowed him to turn up for his ongoing independent run.

Along the way, Quik expounds on why he loves Bugs Bunny to the point of potentially getting a tattoo, why delivering papers as a teen didn’t work, and why he feels like 2Pac was in a much better mental space in making Me Against The World with (Interscope Records co-founder) Tom Whalley than he was making Don Killuminati: The Seven Day Theory with Suge Knight. Lastly, the former Warner Bros. Records A&R executive says he wishes he had the proper vehicle to sign Kendrick, and chides playfully, that Dre beat him again.

This is another quality interview from the Mad Science Records founder, whose 2014 release Midnight Life still deserves tons of props.

Related: DJ Quik’s Safe + Sound Still Has Groundbreaking Funk 20 Years Later (Food For Thought)