DJ Quik "Balance & Options"

DJ Quik, a West Coast rapper and producer, released his fifth album titled "Balance & Options" on May 16, 2000, through Arista Records, who inherited his contract when they bought Profile Records.

The album debuted at number 18 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 68,000 copies in its first week of release. Unlike his previous albums, this album was not certified by the RIAA. The album's single "Pitch in on a Party" was accompanied by a music video directed by photographer Patrick Hoelck. Although fans believed that "Balance & Options" was DJ Quik's best work, he himself felt that he wasn't putting in his best effort while making the album. He was losing interest in recording due to the changing trends in the music industry at the time.

Music critics praised DJ Quik's album "Balance & Options". DubCNN's Incognito gave it 4.5/5 stars, praising the wisdom Quik showed in admitting that he's not a gangsta, and Rolling Stone called it the "most unexpectedly progressive hip-hop album of the year", awarding it 3.5/5 stars. The Source gave it 3/5 mics, saying that its gems are scattered like buried treasure. Nathan Rabin from The A.V. Club wrote that the album features occasional socially conscious lyrics mixed with rampant misogyny and homophobia, but praised Quik's talent as a producer.

In 2012, Kendrick Lamar included the album on his "Complex Top 25 Favorite Albums" list and praised the song "I Don't Wanna Party Wit U". "Balance & Options" was commercially successful, debuting at number 18 on the US Billboard 200 chart and at number 5 on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, with first-week sales of 68,000 copies. The album remained on the Billboard 200 chart for 18 weeks. Although it did not receive RIAA certification, as of March 21, 2002, the album had sold more than 324,000 copies in the United States.