One of the things that make me irate is that people don’t appreciate great talent while they are here on this earth. We always want to pay homage to a person until they have pasted away. You have a lot of artists that were so ahead of their time that people did not get “it” until they die. The Notorious B.I.G, Kurt Cobain, and Jimi Hendrix just to name a few. Jay Dee aka J Dilla is no exception in this case. I remember when I first heard Jay Dee it was on the second Pharcyde album called Labcabincalifornia and I was blown away by his sound. It was very different from any other kind of hip hop beats I was listening to at the time. I think what stuck out the most was his drums were off key. His drums sounded like somebody with a drum kit was playing them instead of a drum machine (even though he was using a drum machine). I investigated more about him and found out that A Tribe Called Quest hired him to produce their long awaited fourth album Beats, Rhymes, and Life. I was ecstatic, my favorite hip hop group and my favorite new producer combing forces to make an album. When it came out I was a little disappointed at first, but in hindsight it was a great album. Modern day hip hop (mid-90’s), with it’s watery landscape and radio friendly mixes, got beat down when Jay stepped behind the boards. He was working with Janet Jackson, Mad Skillz, De La Soul, and Keith Murray at the time too.
Let’s fast forward to 2009 with this great instrumental album release by Stones Throw. These beats are between the years of 1995-98 during the time Jay Dee was working with Delicious Vinyl Records. The beats on this record are the types of beats that made me know that Jay Dee was ahead of his time. I would here a lot of naysayers talk about how his beats were too R&B or not “hard” enough. I felt like that was the whole reason why his beats were slamming. He put the SOUL back into hip hop.
For more info check out Yancey Boys Instrumentals
nice write-up. i always felt like a Dilla beat was enough to be a song on its own, i could never consider joints like these as beats because they have so much life on their own as is. i'd probably say at least 50% of the time, the Dilla instrumental is more enjoyable than whatever it was used for, not to discredit anyone who he collaborated with. his sound is just so captivating, to hear it in its pure unadulterated form is hypnotic.
ReplyDeletepeace and respect
-Billy J