J-dilla (Jay Dee) / Jay Stay Paid [Explicit Content] (2 Lp's)

With the sheer volume of posthumously released material staking its claim to the musical legacy of late hip-hop producer J Dilla, one can take a cynical view that this is just another symptom of labels cannibalizing an outstanding music talent (in life and in death) for all that they're worth, and sometimes much more. In Dilla's case, well-intentioned memorial assemblages such as THE SHINING (2006) and RUFF DRAFT (2007) were less cohesive musical statements than fleeting sketches by an artist in a hurry to fix every wayward idea before they slipped away from the memory banks. Lovingly assembled by esteemed beatsmith Pete Rock and executive produced by Dilla's mother, Maureen "Ma Dukes" Yancey, JAY STAY PAID can in some ways be considered the definitive J Dilla album, being every bit equal in quality to the producer's 2005 swan song, DONUTS. The mostly instrumental album, a third of which features familiar Dilla collaborators such as Black Thought and MF Doom, is a fully-formed collection encompassing everything from his late-'90s beats for the Ummah collective to works put together during his final days in a hospital bed.

TRACKLIST

DISC 1:

1. Kjay Fm Dedication
2. Kaklow (Jump On It)
3. Digi Dirt
4. Dilla Boy vs. The Hybrid
5. Milk Money
6. Spacecowboy vs. Bobble Head
7. King
8. I Told Yall
9. Laser Gunne Funke
10. In the Night (Owl N Out) - While You Slept (I Crept)
11. Smoke
12. Blood Sport
13. Cadillac
14. Expensive Whip

DISC 2:

1. Reality Check
2. Pay Day
3. See That Boy Fly
4. Coming Back
5. Mythsysier
6. Kjay and We Out
7. On Stilits
8. Fire Wood Drumstix
9. Glamour Sho75 (09)
10. 10,000 Watts
11. 9th Caller
12. Make It Fast Mega Mix [Unadulterated Nux] - (remix)
13. 24k Rap
14. Big City