| Artist: J Dilla
Album Title: Jay Stay Paid (Hip Hop)
10/10
Reviewed by Constantine Anthony
I came across this album located in the Hip Hop section only to find out later that J Dilla died in 2006. But before he made that grand exit, James “J Dilla” Yancey built an alternately immediate and arty sound – a mix of busy drumbeats, melodic keyboards and finely chopped samples – that made him Pharrell William’ favourite beatmaker. This collection of unreleased material is uneven, tossing in undercooked instrumentals alongside tracks with MCs like Raekwon and Black Thought, but the star is Dilla’s gleefully idiosyncratic production work. Drums stutter and jerk; sirens wail nonstop; and snippets of wiry noise snake in and out of the mix. It is aggro psychedelic hip-hop that grabs you, sinks its hooks into you and won’t let go. This album, overseen by his mother and mixed by Pete Rock, is probably Dilla’s best posthumous release to date, touching on everything from the alien orgy funk of his mid-period work to the haunting soul of later years. Jay Stay Paid is exhilarating and disorienting. If you’re thinking of getting your car audio player a birthday gift - this should be it!
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