the most slept on since pepto biz
or time warner let go prince...
there's a great interview/article at geneisquest that should be read. the interviewee and i share very similar appreciation for dilla's work.
i think i'm just about through my mourning phase, now i'm getting into the mode of preparing to celebrate the music. i apologize if i've turned any readers off with the sentimenal e-shrine i'm building.
anyway.
here's my jay dee story.
way back in '95, my favorite new artist was a cat named Mad Skillz. (i find it terribly ironic that Skillz would end up being a featured artist of a very clandestine website i virtually lived on for the last 6 or 7* years.)
Mad Skillz's debut album From Where???!!! - a nonstop flurry of hilarious but lyrically devestating punchlines and battle-ready braggadocio- went largely unheralded, but he released a radio standout track, the bouncing "Nod Factor", which made a little noise.
enough noise for me to take notice, as i was entering the "backback" phase that overtook so many young hiphop fans who were growing weary of the murder/money trend the genre was starting to assume as its main descriptor. Nod Factor had me nodding, but it wasn't until i bought the single on tape from the local mall, that i was sold on Skillz'...well...skills.
fast forward a few months, & my cousin Courtney (who bought every cd that ever came out) has a copy of From Where???!!!. of course, i'm asking to borrow it and she obliges as usual. she's always pretty free with her cds, just don't let her borrow one of yours. you'll never see it again.
i fall in love with the record. it becomes my inspiration to really start writing raps, and along with my friend Terrance (who also swore by Skillz, and ALSO would later go on to start producing), we write battle verses and compare during Mrs. Macintosh's English II class. (i'd go on to fail the class miserably. English! and you see what amazing control i have over the english language now, right? what a disgrace.)
little did i know that a certain young Detroit beat maker had a hand in crafting two of the tracks on one of my obscure favorite albums. i didn't care about producers then, i don't remember ever seeing his name in the credits, but Jay did "It's Goin' Down Baby" and "The Jam". i wouldn't find this out until many years later, but i find it pretty significant. on some who'da thunk?! ish. to think, Dilla was 21 or 22 when he did those tracks.
wow.
that same year, A Tribe Called Quest's album Beats, Rhymes & Life would be released, as well as The Pharcyde's Labcabincalifornia and De La Soul's Stakes Is High. all three albums were on my radar, in fact, select cuts from each album, particularly BR&L's Stressed Out and 1nce Again, De La's title track and Lab's Runnin, Drop and the Y? (Like That) remix, were all Dilla productions that graced my top ten list for the year. at this point i had no clue who did the beats, i just knew they knocked and were each amazing backdrops for my quite a cadre of talent.
i wouldn't hear much from- or pay any attention- to J Dilla's work until 1998, when ATCQ's The Love Movement would drop. 4 tracks there and infinite influence on the whole album's direction gave ATCQ new direction that rent the groups' fanbase in two, lost a gaggle of fans and gained another. it'd be their last studio release as a group.
the next year, he'd dump a truckload of work into the solo debut effort of ATCQ's frontman, Q-Tip. Amplified would get a total of 11 tracks from Dilla, who's input into Tribe's various new directions was garnering mixed reactions. some viewed it as a blessing, but the general consensus was that he was watering down their sound. i was one of those folks. when Amplified dropped i was appalled. the club ready bounce and bare chested dancing Tip disgusted my now solidified backpacker stance against anything with glitz. i would watch the Breathe and Stop video for the voluptuous dancers, but i would always have a snide comment about Q-Tips attempts at mainstream success.
(it's ironic that now i'm feeling around blindly trying to find that album. criminally slept on.)
the same year, he'd also stick a contribution on one of the most influential albums in my decision to try a hand at music. my favorite hip hop group ever, The Roots, put out their seminal release Things Fall Apart. the janky and fun Dynamite was part of one of the best rap albums to be released in the past 10 years, and arguably in the history of the genre. The Roots would win a Grammy with the record, and again, Dilla's influence is greater than his actual production credits would suggest.
things get exciting in 2000.
Common's Like Water for Chocolate is released. man. what an album. beautiful music, folks. sharp and intelligent rhyming, deep and incredibly layered melodies over headache inducing drums. again, people were mad at the striking difference between Com's last two releases and this one, but i fell in love with it. Nag Champa was my anthem that year. i worked in a machining factory in Jenkintown, PA- 7am to 3pm, and this was my soundtrack that summer.
Also that year, Jay Dee would finally do a proper release with his group, Slum Village- the absolutely incredible Fantastic Vol. 2.
folks, i could literally sit here for the rest of the day and type until my fingers were nubs, and still not get out everything i could possibly say about this record. i don't mean to overhype it, if you haven't heard it, it's unquestionably worth taste-testing and considering. all i can suggest is:
1) listen with an open mind. this album isn't about rapping as much as it is about having fun. the raps are generally whimsical. if you're listening for a dope mc to wax philosophical, tell you about the revolution or share his love for women, you're gonna miss the point. if anything, listen for the rappers' cadence, which is impeccable, especially considering the way the beats move. otherwise get over it. Jay is the star here, and his raps and beats steal whatever show the T3 and Baatin could ever hope to have.
2) if you have an EQ on your stereo, iPod, walkman or whatever, turn the highs down. the drums are processed to POP, and pop they do. they really will hurt your ears.
this was Jay Dilla's defining moment. i'm sure it didn't have the mainstream success he would have liked, and it was largely a collection of older material compiled and redone. (Vol. 1 was basically a demo tape. if you ever hear it, compare it to the studio release and you'll see the glaring improvements.)
this album, was unlike anything i had ever heard. i was a backpacker with newly adopted "conscious" sensibilties (see mos def, talib kweli common) , yet i was losing my mind to simplistic misogynistic rhymes about bitches, money, threesomes and...Conant Gardens in Detroit, MI? it didn't make sense, and it didn't matter to me. there was a then unapparent element that had the rapt attention of true music lovers across the globe.
the beats on this record were out. of. this. world.
wow.
Fall In Love and Players, two of my favorite tracks from the album, are moody and thick; a boom bap head nodder and a dance floor filling jam, respectively. the album packed so many different versions of the K.O. punch. from the moment you cue it up to the very last 30 seconds of Go Ladies, (an incredible outro instrumental thrown on the end for good measure) the album is an experience.
by this point i'm sold. Jay Dee became my favorite hip hop producer. he'd get edged out periodically by Pete Rock, but there's no doubt in my mind what spot he holds now.
i would go on to be on top of every release or project he'd have a hand in (with the exclusion of Common's Electric Circus, which i dismissed as a bad Andre 3000 rendition. the album now stands on it's own in my head, and Com hasn't rhymed like that since. )
Welcome 2 Detroit was the first in a series of Beat Generation producer albums, released through the british label BBE in 2002. noticably absent were his SV partners, Dilla instead opted to let some other Detroit mc's get shine, and handled the rest on his own. it was the best release of the Beat Generation canon, followed closely by Pete Rock's Petestrumentals. stand out tracks include Shake It Down, Come Get It (featuring Elzhi) and Think Twice, an incredible take on Donald Byrd's original by the same name. this is when i started to figure out the extent of Dilla's talent. a complete recreation updated for the hiphop ear, replete with live instrumentation and Dilla's signature punchy drums and lazy hi hat programming. i swore by this album as well.
between 1999 and 2006, he'd produce tracks for an amazing range of artists including Erykah Badu, Bilal, Busta Rhymes, Mos Def and Talib Kweli (together and seperately), Vivian Green, Lucy Pearl, Jazzy Jeff, Spacek, Oh No, Dwele, Amp Fiddler, Platinum Pied Pipers, Royce the 5'9" and Madlib.
he owned every track he did. his own releases were often experimental envelope pushers that had biters licking their chops and duplicating. check the discog and cross reference it with the chronology. Dilla was largely responsible for the Neo Soul movement that took over the world before it became overdone and jumped the shark. of course, by that time, Dilla was making his signature Detroit synth bounce with frank and dank, something like Trans-Europe Express slowed down and bouncing along with kicks on the 1s, 2s, 3s and 4s.
incredible.
i hope to upload at least a few of these tracks in a .zip file for you, sometime over the weekend, as a kind of introductory guide to the breadth of Dilla's skills.
all respect due.
yeah. let's get live with it.
there's a great interview/article at geneisquest that should be read. the interviewee and i share very similar appreciation for dilla's work.
i think i'm just about through my mourning phase, now i'm getting into the mode of preparing to celebrate the music. i apologize if i've turned any readers off with the sentimenal e-shrine i'm building.
anyway.
here's my jay dee story.
way back in '95, my favorite new artist was a cat named Mad Skillz. (i find it terribly ironic that Skillz would end up being a featured artist of a very clandestine website i virtually lived on for the last 6 or 7* years.)
Mad Skillz's debut album From Where???!!! - a nonstop flurry of hilarious but lyrically devestating punchlines and battle-ready braggadocio- went largely unheralded, but he released a radio standout track, the bouncing "Nod Factor", which made a little noise.
enough noise for me to take notice, as i was entering the "backback" phase that overtook so many young hiphop fans who were growing weary of the murder/money trend the genre was starting to assume as its main descriptor. Nod Factor had me nodding, but it wasn't until i bought the single on tape from the local mall, that i was sold on Skillz'...well...skills.
fast forward a few months, & my cousin Courtney (who bought every cd that ever came out) has a copy of From Where???!!!. of course, i'm asking to borrow it and she obliges as usual. she's always pretty free with her cds, just don't let her borrow one of yours. you'll never see it again.
i fall in love with the record. it becomes my inspiration to really start writing raps, and along with my friend Terrance (who also swore by Skillz, and ALSO would later go on to start producing), we write battle verses and compare during Mrs. Macintosh's English II class. (i'd go on to fail the class miserably. English! and you see what amazing control i have over the english language now, right? what a disgrace.)
little did i know that a certain young Detroit beat maker had a hand in crafting two of the tracks on one of my obscure favorite albums. i didn't care about producers then, i don't remember ever seeing his name in the credits, but Jay did "It's Goin' Down Baby" and "The Jam". i wouldn't find this out until many years later, but i find it pretty significant. on some who'da thunk?! ish. to think, Dilla was 21 or 22 when he did those tracks.
wow.
that same year, A Tribe Called Quest's album Beats, Rhymes & Life would be released, as well as The Pharcyde's Labcabincalifornia and De La Soul's Stakes Is High. all three albums were on my radar, in fact, select cuts from each album, particularly BR&L's Stressed Out and 1nce Again, De La's title track and Lab's Runnin, Drop and the Y? (Like That) remix, were all Dilla productions that graced my top ten list for the year. at this point i had no clue who did the beats, i just knew they knocked and were each amazing backdrops for my quite a cadre of talent.
i wouldn't hear much from- or pay any attention- to J Dilla's work until 1998, when ATCQ's The Love Movement would drop. 4 tracks there and infinite influence on the whole album's direction gave ATCQ new direction that rent the groups' fanbase in two, lost a gaggle of fans and gained another. it'd be their last studio release as a group.
the next year, he'd dump a truckload of work into the solo debut effort of ATCQ's frontman, Q-Tip. Amplified would get a total of 11 tracks from Dilla, who's input into Tribe's various new directions was garnering mixed reactions. some viewed it as a blessing, but the general consensus was that he was watering down their sound. i was one of those folks. when Amplified dropped i was appalled. the club ready bounce and bare chested dancing Tip disgusted my now solidified backpacker stance against anything with glitz. i would watch the Breathe and Stop video for the voluptuous dancers, but i would always have a snide comment about Q-Tips attempts at mainstream success.
(it's ironic that now i'm feeling around blindly trying to find that album. criminally slept on.)
the same year, he'd also stick a contribution on one of the most influential albums in my decision to try a hand at music. my favorite hip hop group ever, The Roots, put out their seminal release Things Fall Apart. the janky and fun Dynamite was part of one of the best rap albums to be released in the past 10 years, and arguably in the history of the genre. The Roots would win a Grammy with the record, and again, Dilla's influence is greater than his actual production credits would suggest.
things get exciting in 2000.
Common's Like Water for Chocolate is released. man. what an album. beautiful music, folks. sharp and intelligent rhyming, deep and incredibly layered melodies over headache inducing drums. again, people were mad at the striking difference between Com's last two releases and this one, but i fell in love with it. Nag Champa was my anthem that year. i worked in a machining factory in Jenkintown, PA- 7am to 3pm, and this was my soundtrack that summer.
Also that year, Jay Dee would finally do a proper release with his group, Slum Village- the absolutely incredible Fantastic Vol. 2.
folks, i could literally sit here for the rest of the day and type until my fingers were nubs, and still not get out everything i could possibly say about this record. i don't mean to overhype it, if you haven't heard it, it's unquestionably worth taste-testing and considering. all i can suggest is:
1) listen with an open mind. this album isn't about rapping as much as it is about having fun. the raps are generally whimsical. if you're listening for a dope mc to wax philosophical, tell you about the revolution or share his love for women, you're gonna miss the point. if anything, listen for the rappers' cadence, which is impeccable, especially considering the way the beats move. otherwise get over it. Jay is the star here, and his raps and beats steal whatever show the T3 and Baatin could ever hope to have.
2) if you have an EQ on your stereo, iPod, walkman or whatever, turn the highs down. the drums are processed to POP, and pop they do. they really will hurt your ears.
this was Jay Dilla's defining moment. i'm sure it didn't have the mainstream success he would have liked, and it was largely a collection of older material compiled and redone. (Vol. 1 was basically a demo tape. if you ever hear it, compare it to the studio release and you'll see the glaring improvements.)
this album, was unlike anything i had ever heard. i was a backpacker with newly adopted "conscious" sensibilties (see mos def, talib kweli common) , yet i was losing my mind to simplistic misogynistic rhymes about bitches, money, threesomes and...Conant Gardens in Detroit, MI? it didn't make sense, and it didn't matter to me. there was a then unapparent element that had the rapt attention of true music lovers across the globe.
the beats on this record were out. of. this. world.
wow.
Fall In Love and Players, two of my favorite tracks from the album, are moody and thick; a boom bap head nodder and a dance floor filling jam, respectively. the album packed so many different versions of the K.O. punch. from the moment you cue it up to the very last 30 seconds of Go Ladies, (an incredible outro instrumental thrown on the end for good measure) the album is an experience.
by this point i'm sold. Jay Dee became my favorite hip hop producer. he'd get edged out periodically by Pete Rock, but there's no doubt in my mind what spot he holds now.
i would go on to be on top of every release or project he'd have a hand in (with the exclusion of Common's Electric Circus, which i dismissed as a bad Andre 3000 rendition. the album now stands on it's own in my head, and Com hasn't rhymed like that since. )
Welcome 2 Detroit was the first in a series of Beat Generation producer albums, released through the british label BBE in 2002. noticably absent were his SV partners, Dilla instead opted to let some other Detroit mc's get shine, and handled the rest on his own. it was the best release of the Beat Generation canon, followed closely by Pete Rock's Petestrumentals. stand out tracks include Shake It Down, Come Get It (featuring Elzhi) and Think Twice, an incredible take on Donald Byrd's original by the same name. this is when i started to figure out the extent of Dilla's talent. a complete recreation updated for the hiphop ear, replete with live instrumentation and Dilla's signature punchy drums and lazy hi hat programming. i swore by this album as well.
between 1999 and 2006, he'd produce tracks for an amazing range of artists including Erykah Badu, Bilal, Busta Rhymes, Mos Def and Talib Kweli (together and seperately), Vivian Green, Lucy Pearl, Jazzy Jeff, Spacek, Oh No, Dwele, Amp Fiddler, Platinum Pied Pipers, Royce the 5'9" and Madlib.
he owned every track he did. his own releases were often experimental envelope pushers that had biters licking their chops and duplicating. check the discog and cross reference it with the chronology. Dilla was largely responsible for the Neo Soul movement that took over the world before it became overdone and jumped the shark. of course, by that time, Dilla was making his signature Detroit synth bounce with frank and dank, something like Trans-Europe Express slowed down and bouncing along with kicks on the 1s, 2s, 3s and 4s.
incredible.
i hope to upload at least a few of these tracks in a .zip file for you, sometime over the weekend, as a kind of introductory guide to the breadth of Dilla's skills.
all respect due.
yeah. let's get live with it.
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