J Dilla - Dillanthology Volume 1 [Album]

Rapster Records

October 3, 2009, 01:12 PM

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The late, great James 'J Dilla' Yancey is (to all intents and purposes) the Van Gogh of hip-hop. It's a crying shame that it's only after his death that his very particular brand of fractured genius is being truly appreciated. Of course he has left behind him a legacy which will be familiar to millions, songs which many will love and yet still have no idea who the man was, but that is generally the burden a producer has to bare (Rick Rubin, Mark Ronson and Kayne West are exceptions that prove the rule). "Dillanthology" collects some of the more successful productions that Yancey worked on for prominent clients and collaborators such as De La Soul and Busta Rhymes. It may serve as an ideal introduction to the man's work for a fair-weather fan, but chances are if you have even a passing interest in alternative hip-hop you'll have heard most of these tracks before.

The choice of tracks is debatable sure, but there isn't a duffer amongst the bunch, it's just a shame there's only 11 tracks on a disc when there's surely room for at least 7 more. We get one track from most of Dilla's more prominent clients, one from his own 'Slum Village' collective and two from The Pharcyde (for whom his work became debatably most notable). Fans might be disappointed to see no 'Ummah' productions on here but as they were more collaborative tracks I can see why they decided not to include any, this collection isn't for the fans anyway.

Anyway now onto the music:-

Any first time listeners who have only really heard modern, glossy 'pop-hop' might find it difficult to adjust to Dilla's warm, jazzy grooves and eclectic samples. He was an incredibly particular man who would spend hours manipulating record loops until they skipped and warped just the way he wanted them too. His methods made for delicate, crisp productions full of character, a character which is abundantly clear on The Pharcyde's 'Runnin.' A twisted, looped acoustic guitar refrain haunts the back of the mix against a sharp beat and 'Imani's' slick rhymes. The vintage soul flavoured vocals at the chorus were to become one of Dilla's trademark tricks in later years and here it works so well. There are so many interesting little diversions here, the menacing sub-bass, the jazz breakdown in the middle 8 and the game changing final rhyme. It's a stunning track and sets the collection up admirably.

Next up we get one of Dilla's own Slum Village compositions with the sparse, atmospheric 'Fall In Love,' it's heavily reverberated beats and treated loops bringing to mind the melancholic drama of Massive Attacks 'Blue Lines.' The about-turn in the last verse seems a bit forced in retrospect but it hardly detracts from the songs overall reserved grace, if anything it's just Dilla cutting loose which is not something (by all accounts) he did often. At this point it becomes almost incidental to discuss the songs individually as they all follow a similar blueprint (namely vinyl warmed grooves, top of their game MC's, warped jazz and soul samples and genuinely beautiful, melodic chorus's). It's a blueprint which led to many prime talents career best work (with Common, Amp Fiddler and Busta Rhymes never bettering the offerings here in my opinion) and listening to these songs through fresh ears should prove a revelation to anyone who (thanks to mainstream assimilation) views hip-hop as a lesser art-form.

It's the little touches that make Dilla's records so special, the soft focus percussion and David Gilmore-ish guitar on 'Didn't Cha Know,' the perfectly layered found-sounds on 'Stakes Is High' and the jazzy double bass hooks on 'Dynamite' are ideas that could of only come from one mind. In fact listening back to these tracks re-affirms my belief that Jay deserves his place in the pantheon of great artists who left us before their time, granted he left more work behind than say Jeff Buckley or Nick Drake but that's more to do with the genre's prolific nature. The collection is rounded off perfectly by Steve Spacek's elegiac 'Dolla' coming across like a modern-day Curtis Mayfield, it's a soulful, yearning track and serves as a suitably down-beat conclusion.

I really can't stress enough how much you need this guys music in your life. Jay Dee, J Dilla, James Yancey, whatever name you know him by, the man was a prodigal genius and with this satisfying collection nobody has an excuse not to get lost in his world.

Tracklisting:-
1. The Pharcyde - Runnin
2. Slum Village - Fall In Love
3. Common - The Light
4. Erykah Badu - Didn't Cha Know
5. De La Soul - Stakes Is High
6. Busta Rhymes - Show Me What You Got
7. The Roots - Dynamite
8. A.G feat Aloe Blacc - Hip Hop Quotable
9. The Pharcyde - Drop
10. Amp Fiddler - I Believe In You
11. Steve Spacek - Dolla

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