Rebirth of Detroit

by J Dilla

There is a real law of diminishing returns in action with posthumous musical releases.  Basically, the best stuff either came out while the artist was still alive, or was in the pipeline at the time of his death.  Once you move a few years down the road, people trying to keep an artist's legacy alive are left searching long-forgotten thumb drives for beats the artist dashed off in an afternoon, and then abandoned for a reason.

There are some great tracks on Rebirth of Detroit, the latest in a long line of posthumous Dilla releases, but they are few and far between.  For the most part, this album features a lot of lesser-known Detroit rappers spitting over Dilla's C-game.

I appreciate the effort made by Ma Dukes and whoever worked on this with her (although there has been some controversy about how the album really got made) to include the next generation of Detroit MCs, but not everyone on here deserves a Dilla track, even if its not his best.  We also get a lot of tracks featuring the usual Detroit artists, like Phat Kat, Guilty Simpson, Fat Ray, Frank Nitt, and of course, Illa J.  It would have been nice to see some of Dilla's other friends, like Common or Madlib grace a track or two.

Because I want to spend my time being positive, let's look at the brightest notes here.  There are two tracks which feature the musician Allan Barnes, from the Blackbyrds.  These are easily the best on the album - on 'Requiem', he's playing a wind instrument over a nice mellow Dilla beat, and on 'The Best That Ever Did It', which features the rapper Jon C., he plays his sax.  That track uses a beat Dilla released before (I want to say it's on Jay Love Japan, but I could be wrong), but it sounds amazing with the saxophone added on.

I also really like the track 'Let's Pray Together' with Amp Fiddler.  There are some decent bangers elsewhere on this disc, but I think I'll stick to playing Donuts and Ruff Draft if I need my Dilla fix.

Ohnomite and Dr. No's Tornado Funk

by Oh No

Oh No does like his gimmicks.  A few years ago he crafted an entire hip-hop album (Exodus Into Unheard Rhythms)using only samples from Galt McDermot's musicals.  It was interesting, but ultimately not all that impressive.

I feel the same way about Ohnomite, his new album on FiveDayWeekend that is crafted solely from sounds taken from the soundtrack to Dolemite, the classic blaxploitation film.  The beats are very nice, but the collection of rappers that Oh No gathered is pretty uninspired, as are their lyrics.

Oh No stuck with many of the same old MCs that fill the less-interesting corners of Stones Throw's catalogue - Guilty Simpson, MED, Roc C, Wildchild, and Frank Nitt.  He added to this mix some perpetual undergrounders on the cusp of popularity, like Evidence, Alchemist, Chino XL, Termanology, Roc Marciano, Phil Da Agony (who I quite like, actually), and LMNO.

There are some impressive names here - MF DOOM holds up his track nicely, and appearances by Rapper Pooh (I guess he dropped the Big in his name), Phife Dawg, and Erick Sermon add some respectability to the affair, but not a lot of excitement.

In contrast to that is Dr. No's Tornado Funk, which is an instrumental project built around many of the same samples.  Oh No's best work is usually his instrumental stuff (I love his Dr. No's Oxperiment), so it comes as no surprise to me that I play this album much more frequently than the other.  It has the energy and excitement that the other project is lacking, and it's nice to hear No's masterful beats without uninteresting lyrics and dull delivery diluting them.

I'm not going to suggest that Oh No stick to staying behind the boards, but he would benefit from working with a more exciting stable of lyricists.

Madlib Medicine Show No. 12 - Raw Medicine: Madlib Remixes

Remixed and Produced by Madlib

I feel like the Madlib Medicine Show ended up being a bit of a disappointment in the end.  The monthly schedule was abandoned a while ago, and the last few entries (particularly the 9th one) weren't all that impressive.  When I first heard this twelfth (and final?) disc, I didn't much like it at first.  With repeated listening it grew on me, but I still feel like it's a little too long and self-indulgent (despite being, at 60 minutes, one of the shorter entries in this series).

Basically, Madlib has taken a bunch of older hip-hop songs, and remixed them, filling in the space between them with way too many interludes and skits that may be funny the first couple of times you hear them (especially if you're high), but quickly become tired and played out.  Artists that appear on this disc include J Dilla, MF Doom, Ghostface, Q-Tip, Phil da Agony, Sadat X, Guilty Simpson, MED, Cappadonna, The Clipse, Royce the 5'9, Musiq Soulchild, Frank N Dank, AZ, Royal Flush, Kardinal Offishall, and a bunch more.

As a background mix, it's pretty nice, and Madlib's beats are great, as always, but the disc lacks any kind of unity or consistency, and that makes it pretty forgettable.

Madlib Medicine Show No. 9 - Channel 85 Presents Nittyville, Feat. Frank Nitt

by Frank Nitt and Madlib

I feel like the Madlib Medicine Show has fallen off.  This ninth installment, which was supposed to be out last September, but wasn't released until May, is a collaboration between Madlib and Frank Nitt, one half of the rap group Frank N Dank.  It's a perfectly serviceable underground hip-hop album, which is in no way memorable or particularly special.

Sure, Madlib can always throw down on a project like this.  He still creates some of the best beats in the business, but it doesn't feel like his heart was in this one.  Nitt is not an interesting MC, and the subject matter on this album - 'stunts, blunts, and hip-hop,' according to the disc's own promotion, is overdone.

I don't understand why Madlib keeps working with artists that are not up to his level.  Imagine if he'd given some of these beats to a higher class of MC.  We'd have been given hip-hop gold instead of something that feels more like warmed up leftovers.  As usual, there are guest appearances by the Stones Throw second stringers - Guilty Simpson, Roc C, and probably some other people I got too bored to pick out.

Madlib Medicine Show No. 11 - Low Budget High Fi Music

by Madlib

So much of the Madlib Medicine Show took Madlib away from his hip-hop roots, and while I would never complain about an artist branching out, it's nice to see him return to form with this dirty hip-hop mix featuring all new compositions that he produced.

This disc has twenty-eight tracks, and features a vast array of the usual artists Madlib works with, including Oh No (together they are The Professionals), Roc C, Guilty Simpson, AG, Frank Nitt, Strong Arm Steady, Karriem Riggins (together they are Supreme Team), MED, and J Dilla (who produced what has to be the last Jaylib track).

The vocal tracks are interspersed between some nice 'Loop Digga' instrumental tracks, and we have the usual array of sampled conversations and comedy snippets, including a much too long piece featuring Soul Bra and Doctor Dick'em, which isn't all that funny the first time it's heard, and becomes progressively more irritating on each subsequent listen.

In all though, this is a very good mix of music, as Madlib once again makes some boring MCs (Guilty, MED, Roc C) sound great, and helps some terrific artists (Riggins, Oh No) become even better.

Gutter Water

by Gangrene (The Alchemist and Oh No)

I think you should, if you are at all familiar with the underground hip-hop of the last decade, be able to look at this album cover and the names on it, and know exactly what this project is.

The Alchemist, who I always associate with groups like Dilated Peoples and the Beat Junkies, teams up with Oh No, the accomplished beat maker, so-so rapper, and less famous little brother (of Madlib) to put together these fifteen tracks.

The result is just about as gutter as the ugly album cover.  They fill this disk with nasty beats, and, to be honest, completely forgettable rhymes.  Some of the featured rappers aren't able to add anything to the proceedings (Roc C, Evidence, MED, Planet Asia), while the more talented (Raekwon, Fashawn, Guilty Simpson) aren't able to do much with the material.

When I type that, it sounds like I don't like this cd. The truth is, I'm pretty indifferent to it, except to say that it works as some decent head-nodding background music.  I'd rather see Oh No do something on the level of Dr. No's Oxperiment than this again.

OJ Simpson

by Guilty Simpson (and Madlib)

This is a very odd album.  To begin with, it's being labeled and marketed as a Guilty Simpson album, but he only appears on half of the tracks on the disk, while his producer, Madlib (the OJ (Otis Jackson) in the title) is behind the boards on the whole show.

I think the reason for it, as I've said before, is that Guilty is kind of a boring rapper.  Don't get me wrong - I love it when he has a guest spot on a song, with another MC or two, but when he's on his own, he's hella monotonous.  I figure that's why, of the 24 tracks on this disk, only 12 of them have vocals.  The rest are the usual Madlib interlude kind of thing - snippets of stand-up comedy acts, chunks of TV or movie dialogue, or just straight up, nice instrumentals.

Of all the songs that Guilty does actually spit on, only two of them stand out in any way.  'Cali Hills' is a tribute to J Dilla, complete with his signature alarm song and samples of his verses off the Dilla/Madlib Jaylib project.  The only other song I really like is Scratch Warning, which features Frank (I assume from Frank N Dank), and which allows Guilty's strength as a collaborator to show through.

The weird thing is that I like this album.  The sheer number of strange interludes and spoken tracks give the musical pieces a sparseness and rarity that I kind of enjoy.  I think I'd go nuts listening to this in the car, but when chilling at home getting work done, I find this album to be good company.  I much prefer it to the first of the Madlib Medicine Show mixtapes, which was released as a precursor to this album.

This album is definitely strange, but you can't expect things to be too conventional when dealing with Stones Throw.

Crate Digging: Chrome Children

presented by Peanut Butter Wolf

It's been a while since I listened to this 2006 Stones Throw Records compilation cd, although it still feels as fresh as it did when it came out, with a few exceptions.

The first half of the disk is mostly given over to the Jackson family (Madlib and his brother Oh No) and the then-recently departed J Dilla.  The whole thing starts off with Oh No's 'Oh Zone', before sliding into a couple of Dilla tracks.  'Clap Your Hands' is still my favourite Guilty Simpson piece, because of the awesome Dilla beat.  The third track is a Jaylib bit (although not credited as such), with Madlib going over Dilla's minimalist beat, which is a little like the one on 'Nothing Like This', from the Ruff Draft EP.

There's a nice Koushik track in the middle of all this Dilla stuff, which is followed up on by an annoying James Pants track (I don't know why they push this guy at this label).  From there, we go into a long string of Madlib-produced joints, featuring himself (as himself and as Lord Quas), MED, Dudley Perkins, and Percee P on the mic.  In the middle of that is the track that first introduced me to Georgia Anne Muldrow.

Towards the end of the disk, things get a little wilder, as Wolf showcases artists like Gary Wilson, Aloe Blacc, Pure Essence (via SoulCal), and, unfortunately, Baron Zen.  The disk closes with a Young Jazz Rebels (ie. Madlib) free jazz number.

This cd does a lot to show the mindset of Stones Throw in the mid-00's, and while there is a lot that still represents their catalogue, I feel like the label has become even more diverse and open-minded.  This is a good, strong compilation with a lot of great tracks (and some best left skipped).

In Search of Stoney Jackson

by Strong Arm Steady

I've never had much interest in Strong Arm Steady, thinking of them as the type of group that show up on mixtapes with artists I like and I can't tell why, and generally as trying to ride Talib Kweli's coattails since he signed them to Blacksmith a few years ago. Sure, they can sound good when featured on a song or two, but they weren't the type of artists I thought could pull off a whole album. Then I saw that their album was going to exclusively feature Madlib production, so of course I bought it...

And I was more or less right - the actual group (Krondon, Phil da Agony, and according to Wikipedia someone named Mitchy Slick) are not particularly interesting when they are rapping on their own. Their subject matter never strays far from weed it seems, although they do manage to sound consistent and let provide a decent enough use of Madlib's very cool beats.

What saves this album (beyond some great Madlib production of course) are guest appearances by Phonte (it's not a good sign when you have a guest on your first track), Talib Kweli, Evidence, Oh No, Fashawn, Guilty Simpson, and enough appearance by Planet Asia he must wonder if he really did leave the group. There are other guests too; in fact, it looks like there are only four tracks where SAS is on their own, which doesn't seem like a sign of confidence in an artist.

This is a decent album, don't get me wrong. It's just not very memorable...

Madlib Medicine Show #1 - Before the Verdict

by Madlib, with Guilty Simpson

Each month this year, Madlib is going to be releasing a new cd (and/or vinyl, if that's your thing) under the aegis of the Madlib Medicine Show. This is in addition to his other releases, which seem quite prolific this year (I think I've already bought two other Madlib projects in 2010).

This release is mostly a remix project featuring Guilty Simpson. Most of the vocals are taken off of Simpson's 2008 album 'Ode to the Ghetto', although there are a few new tracks tossed in (perhaps previews of the upcoming OJ Simpson album, which is a Madlib/Simpson collaboration project). 'Ode' was a decent enough album, although a little monotonous, mostly notable for the strength of the producers it assembled - Oh No, Mr. Porter, Black Milk, Dilla, and Madlib himself.

The largest problem I have with any Guilty Simpson project is that he's kind of a boring rapper. I like him best when he only shows up on a song for 8 or 16 bars, but the effect of listening to him for an extended period of time is a little deadening. Madlib's beats are quite nice on this - he's taking a very stripped down, raw approach to hip-hop here, but the vocals never elevate the material to the level they should. You know you're in trouble when a guest appearance by MED becomes notable.

I do like the remix of the Dilla-produced 'I Must Love You', which wisely removes the sung chorus of the original, and showcases some of Simpson's best rapping.

WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip

by Madlib the Beat Konducta

I've never really been able to make up my mind about this album. I think that it is somehow much less than the sum of its parts, as it has many fantastic tracks and songs on it, but when played straight through, I found myself either not listening to long stretches, or just getting a little bored.

There are some truly brilliant parts to this album. The Liberation joint with Talib Kweli is incredible - Kweli hasn't sounded this good in a while and the beat is perfect for him. I also like the track with Karriem Riggins (where is that Supreme Team album?), and the tracks credited to Madlib as 'the Beat Konducta' are all amazing.

I think the problem is that this album can't decide if it's an experimental, new sort of thing, or if it's Madlib producing some classic-sounding hip-hop (with people like Defari, Guilty Simpson, Prince Po, and Roc C). There's nothing wrong with either approach - Madlib is brilliant at them both - but I find that it disrupts the cohesiveness of the album as a whole.

It's all good though, as I imagine that most of these tracks will sound fantastic on my ipod when it's in shuffle mode - especially after I edit out the annoying interludes and distractions that litter this album.

The Preface

by Elzhi

The last year has been very good for Black Milk. He produced all but three of the tracks on this album, and in more than a few places, completely upstaged Elzhi, and not by appearing on the mic (which only happens once)

This is a very consistent, very polished album from one-half of Slum Village. Elzhi has been getting more and more buzz based on his mixtapes, and he definitely comes correct on his first official solo album. But like I said, it's not really a solo album. To me, this is an Elzhi/Black Milk collabo, and that's its strength. These two artists were born to work together.

Black's beats are bouncy at the same time that they are driving, and Elzhi shows some strong lyrical talent to match them. His voice rides over these beats like an expert surfer (I know - wrong image for Detroit rap, but it's all I could imagine). In terms of his writing - it's a little variable. There are some truly amazing songs ('Growing Up', 'The Leak'), and some where his subject matter strikes me as a little juvenile ('Brag Swag') or cliched ('Talking in My Sleep').

This album is graced with some excellent guest appearances. 'Fire (rmx)' features a who's who of Detroit: Guilty Simpson, Fat Ray and Black Milk. Fellow Slum Villa T3 shows up on 'Save Ya', a track which he produced. The greatest track on the album though is 'Motown 25', featuring Royce da 5'9". Royce kills the track, with lines like:

Pardon if I sound lazy
I been puffing crazy
and writing Puff's shit
so motherfucker fuck you pay me.

I'm sure I'm not the only person craving a full length Royce/Black Milk album - that would be a classic for sure.

Yancey Boys

by Illa J

Hip-hop has often been the home to blatant nepotism. Big rappers always have to help their boys get a record deal - whether they can sing or not. There's always a protege or a crew waiting in the wings, and their releases always get a little radio play, even if it is just the single with the Big Name featured on it.

Illa J is no Memphis Bleek. He's not a Braveheart, doesn't Disturb tha Peace, nor roll with G-Unit. He may be the little brother of J Dilla, the god of hip-hop production, but he is also an artist in his own right. I think the fact that Dilla only blessed him with beats posthumously is proof that he does not fall into the Killa Bees category. This is not so much a case of nepotism as it is the debut of a new artist, who happened to be lucky to get his hands on some unused Dilla gems, and do his own thing over them.

If I were to compare Illa J to another artist, I think it would be Phonte. Like Tay, Illa J (how do you shorten that - J? Illa?) raps, but also sings his hooks. His singing is often nicer than his rhymes, which are occassionally weak-sounding. Really, I didn't love Dilla's rhymes a lot of the time either - he was only ever a mid-level rapper.

The material here is nice. The album plays with some fairly standard themes - there are love songs, and songs about family. In the first track, Illa J makes it clear that it's time to try something new, and it's implied that he is talking about his entry into the music industry. There are some songs better left off the album - 'Swagger' has nothing to say really - but for the most part, he sounds great over some laid-back, sample-less Dilla beats, reminiscent of some of his earlier, head-nodding work.

The album contains a strong guest shot from Guilty Simpson, and a couple of very annoying skits. I know I wouldn't have bought this album were it not for the Dilla production (which actually proves the nepotism factor can be profitable), but I would definitely check out any subsequent releases from Illa J.