![]() ![]() The first single released, “Life In Marvelous Times,” is one of the best tracks on the album. Def raps “You are living at time of extremism/A time of revolution/A time when there's got to be a change.” Although the lyrics are meaningful and pertinent, Def isn’t overly political on the track he just touches on current issues, but doesn’t offer up many details on how to fix them. The album kicks off with “Supermagic,” a fast-drumming, socially conscious track. Throughout the tracks he paints a picture of the social and political landscape of America and lets his fans decide what to believe. The album is politically charged, but Mos Def never tries to force his ideals on the listener. On the album, Def spits clever narratives about most anything growing up in Brooklyn, luxury hotels, even touching on President Obama. They’d got the measure of each other by the time they recorded “You Can’t Hold The Torch,” Busta skilfully riding the track, while Dilla has the confidence to keep going at his own pace, bringing the best out of both parties.In late 2006, Brooklyn-born emcee Mos Def quietly released the album “True Magic,” which was an unimpressive and uninspired follow up to his 2004 success, “The New Danger.” Proving he still has what it takes, Def’s 2009 release “The Ecstatic” has recaptured his unique sound and the creative style that has made him a successful artist for over a decade. On the face of it, Busta’s staccato flow might not be the obvious match for J Dilla’s laidback beats, but the two go back to Busta’s 1996 debut. Busta Rhymes: You Can’t Hold The Torch (from The Big Bang, 2006) The bric-a-brac of clipped strings and looped backing vocals are deftly stitched together: a triumph of Dilla’s attention to detail. Though Dilla’s posthumous discography is fast catching up on the material he released during his lifetime, latter-day productions such as “History,” tucked away towards the end of Mos Def’s last album (to date), assuage any fears of barrel-scraping. Mos Def (featuring Talib Kweli): History (2009, The Ecstatic) It’s fitting that both Common and D’Angelo appear on the track: both artists inspired the producer to provide high points in his career, and here they put in trademark performances that more than do justice to the retro-futurist soul of J Dilla’s beat. Originally recorded for a special edition of Common’s 2005 outing, Be, “So Far To Go” first surfaced on Dilla’s first posthumous album, The Shining. Here are just a few of the best J Dilla beats in a discography that continues to reveal new facets.Ĭlick to load video J Dilla (featuring Common and D’Angelo): So Far To Go (from The Shining, 2007) Indeed, as recently as 2014, long-term Dilla cohorts De La Soul released their Smell The DAISY mixtape, featuring unheard beats put together by the late production mastermind. His downtempo, soulful style was not only the perfect bedding for these “conscious” hip-hop artists, but also for D’Angelo’s sultry come-ons.ĭilla left an overwhelming amount of material behind, fuelling seemingly endless posthumous releases while ensuring that his collaborators could continue to honor the man long after his death. Mind-bendingly versatile, he left his fingerprints on high-water marks by everyone from Native Tongues icons De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, to The Roots, Common, and Erykah Badu. Just 32 when he died, from a rare blood disease known as thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, Dilla had been the unsung hero of hip-hop production ever since he began racking up credits in 1993. His death, on February 10, 2006, robbed the world of a talent it was only just beginning to comprehend. J Dilla is responsible for some of the best beats to ever come out of hip-hop. ![]()
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