Jay Dee - Donuts

[djeddy]

As a longtime member of the dirty, i've always expected the latest in original, introspective, and independent music. whatever genre it may fall under, its been a sure thing y'know?

that said, i am EXTREMELY dissapointed there hasnt been any mention whatsoever of this release, nor the artist. In case you don't know, Jay Dee (James Yancy) died earlier this month due to kidney failure. Although the name isn't recognizable, his sound is. He produced some of the best beats in hip-hop for the last 10 years. Some of the 'best' albums including Pharcyde's Labcabincalifornia, Common's Like Water for Chocolate, Slum Village's Fantastic Vol.2 were produced by Jay Dee.

Not only was Jay Dee a superb hip-hop producer, he was also a beat experimentalist. He's collaborated with other 'like' experimentalists like Dabrye and Madlib. In Hip-hop, the producer 'hype' is given to people like Kanye West, but when it comes to creating organic raw bass mixed with soulful sampling from ALL kinds of angles..Jay Dee was the man.

there are two releases that are coming out this year from Jay Dee..the first has already been released on Stones Throw Records...Donuts is a 30+ track collection of various beats Jay Dee been fuckin around with whenever he isnt doing Common, Roots, or Erykah Badu's stuff. Most of these songs are about a minute and change..but it is a great collection of sharp melodies, dope beats, cuts and scratches. while some tracks like 'Time' or 'Don't Cry' sound more like the stuff he's done for Tribe Called Quest, or Pharcyde..other tracks like 'Workinonit' and 'Lightworks' have some of the most awkward samples put seemlessly together and flow smoother and DOPER than RJD2 or Shadow could ever make. this is a CD any aspiring DJ/Beatmaker can study from.

Jay Dee might be gone, but his music will live forever not only through his class production with big-label artists, but also through cut-n-paste releases like this one. it will no doubt inspire the future of hip-hop/downtempo and soul.

R.I.P. J-Dilla.