DJ Quik Reveals He Was a Suspect in Biggie's Murder

Rebecca Sapp, WireImage

Legendary Compton, Calif. rapper-producer DJ Quik has revealed that he was an initial suspect in the Los Angeles Police Department's investigation of the 1997 murder of the Notorious B.I.G.

In the wake of the recent release of F.B.I. files on the murders of 2Pac and Biggie, Quik told HipHopDX.com that the L.A.P.D. followed his movements and tapped his phones, considering him a potential suspect in the revered Brooklyn MC's shooting death.

"Just because I was there at that [VIBE] party [with Biggie before the shooting], they tapped my phones, found out my accountant's number and went and posted up and waited for me at my accountant's office to pick me up for questioning," Quik explained. "And it was only because I owned a '95 [Chevy] Impala [SS] that was black cherry colored like the one that was used supposedly in the shooting -- which was probably black, mine was burgundy, but at night they look identical in color."

While former L.A.P.D. officer David Mack was never questioned -- he owned an Impala matching the alleged shooter's description and has been tied to the murder by various sources -- Quik reveals that he told the police "everything" he knew, in order to clear his name.

"When they came to my accountant's [office] to come get me, I ended up calling my lawyer and I told him what was going on," Quik said. "So he called the Parker Center and arranged for me to go up there and talk to 'em, instead of them gafflin' me up and making a scene. So I went down there and told 'em everything I knew, everything I saw, the whole s--t. And after I did that the burden was off. 'Cause it was rumors in the street that I did that s--t. How am I gonna kill Biggie Smalls when I like him? Who does that?!"

Quik was associated at the time with Bad Boy Records' rival Suge Knight and the Piru Blood gang, but he quickly dismissed the notion that he would have had any involvement in Biggie's murder, lamenting the passing of one of hip-hop's greatest stars.

"Unfortunately, we really did lose -- we lost the essence of hip-hop," Quik continued. "We lost the core. Hip-hop [became] a very expensive sports car body without an engine."

DJ Quik released his eighth studio album, 'The Book of David,' on April 19, 2011.