Madlib

I haven't been as excited for a hip hop producer's work since DJ Premier.

During the Jiggy era of hip hop, I couldn't care less who or what was going on. I was frustrated at the direction hip hop was going and sought refuge in classic rock, soul and breaks. I went to where hip hop music started from.

I was reintroduced to the name Madlib who I barely knew of through his connection to Lootpack/Alkaholiks. The unlikely combination of MF Doom and Madlib worked perfectly. It stands to reason that I see them individually and collectively as hip hop hopes. I continue to hope they recreate their magic again.

I love Madlib! I tweeted Thank Heaven for Madlib one night during my Suite Delight show and meant it.

There have been debates as to whether Madvillainy is a better album than Champion Sound. For Champion Sound to be pitted against my champion meant I had to check it out. The album featuring the legend-in-his-time Dilla working with my current producer of choice by default would indeed find itself on my Best Hip Hop Albums list. 



Madlib's production manges to incorporate my musical past, present and future. I'm hungry for songs using classic samples. I enjoy what he makes now and probably will tomorrow. Just as Theo Parrish embodies everything I want to be as a DJ, Madlib embodies everything I want from a producer. With that said, his sounds are in tune with my frequency or wavelength. Like Pavlov’s dog, all I need is to see and hear his name or that he's involved in a project and my face lights up like a kid on Christmas. His production takes me back to the wonder years of golden era hip hop when the productions were not only creative but innovative. 

I'm in awe of his creativity and the sheer output of projects he's involved with. If I were a producer, I'd do what Madlib does, at least in my way. Whether I'm as incredible with my work as him would remain to be seen & heard.

He is quite possibly the only artist in hip hop, with the exception of DOOM, that I look out for. What a coincidence! The two form Madvillain and I'm waiting for their next album together now. 

Who said lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place?

The Suite Delight - April 1 Playlist:

1. James Last - Inner City Blues 
2. Scrimshire - All I Do feat. Stac
3. Aloe Blacc & The Grand Scheme - The Dark End Of The Street 
4. Greenwood Rhythm Coalition - Guajira '78 (Colman Bros. Remix)
5. Omar - Ghana Emotion (Una Mas Trio Remix)
6. Bob Marley & The Wailers – Get Up, Stand Up (Thievery Corporation Remix)
7. Mo Kolours - Bomptious (Shafiq Husayn Remix)
8. Fashawn – The Ecology
9. Jazz Spastiks - Move (Remix) feat. Apani B Fly
10. Moka Only - More Soup feat. MF Doom
11. Fat Joe - John Blaze Ft. Nas, Big Pun, Jadakiss & Raekwon
12. Jadakiss - Why (Remix) feat. Styles P, Common, Nas & Anthony Hamilton 
13. Naughty By Nature ‎– Guard Your Grill (Smooth Mix)
14. EPMD - Total Kaos
15. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Robes feat. Earl Sweatshirt & Domo Genesis

The Suite Delight - February 25, 2014 (2) Playlist:

1. Nas - It Ain't Hard To Tell (Large Professor Remix)
2. Diverse - Uprock
3. Jay Dee - Pause feat. Frank-N-Dank
4. Strong Arm Steady - Questions featuring Planet Asia & Fashawn
5. Souls of Mischief - That's When Ya Lost (Remix)
6. Soul Khan - Knuckle Puck featuring Koncept, 8thW1 & Homeboy Sandman
7. Quasimoto - Rappcats, Pt. 3
8. Supastition - Yada Yada
9. Murs & 9th Wonder - Murs Day
10. Mobb Deep - Win or Lose
11. Wale - Um'Ricka feat. K'Naan
12. K-Solo - Letterman (Pete Rock Remix)
13. The Extremities - Cold Cheese
14. D-Sisive x Tone Mason – Maybe I Will feat. DJ Grouch

Tribute To J Dilla

When I learned about the fire that destroyed Q-Tip's record collection, I realized the magic of future A Tribe Called Quest albums was in jeopardy. In my mind, how could Q-Tip outsource production of some of the most important music in hip hop history to the Ummah? Who and what is Ummah? When I heard Dilla's drum beats later on and recognized them as the sound from Beats, Rhymes & Life, I then had someone to lay blame on. That was until I heard and fell in love with Slum Village's Fall In Love.

The mark of classic, timeless material is that you can revisit it at a later date and discover new dimensions and information you were not aware prior. I was listening to a Dilla tribute and heard one of the Donuts for the first time in years since buying the CD. It was the one with the sample of When I Die. It had not occured to me, or maybe I overlooked the fact, that he compiled Donuts before he died. Using that sample was more than appropriate. It was prophetic.

I think about the grand scheme of things especially when I can't understand why good people go too soon before what I think is their time or when tragedy strikes. Had it not been for that fire or Q-Tip even working with Dilla, there might not be a legend of J Dilla for us to speak of, listen to, write about or mourn today. That's divine intervention if I ever came close to understanding it.

For those that don't know, Donuts is not a conventional, traditional beats & rhymes hip hop album. There are no rhymes on Donuts. This is J Dilla left to his own devices before he died. The album is symbolically the last will and testament of one of hip hop’s most talented to the culture. Even non-hip hop heads reach for the album or aim to add it to their crates.


His death still impacts hip hop today. J Dilla could have possibly been one to save hip hop or at least resurrect it. With my knowledge of his importance to hip hop, I paid tribute to him on the anniversary of his death.  

R.I.P.  J Dilla

Below are some playlists to bring you up to speed.

  

Check out the player below as well as here.

The Suite Delight - February 2, 2015 Playlist:

1. J Dilla – Don’t Cry
2. J Dilla – 100,000 Watts
3. J Dilla – Lightworks
4. Mobb Deep ‎ – Hoodlum Featuring  Big Noyd & Rakim
5. Mobb Deep   ‎– Hell On Earth
6. Reflection Eternal - Fortified Live (Sensitive Ears Version)
7. Lootpack - Crate Diggin'
8. Lootpack - Long Awaited feat. Dilated Peoples
9. Diamond D - Only Way 2 Go feat. Pete Rock
10. Brand Nubian - Slow Down (Pete Rock's Newromix)
11. Slum Village - Jealousy
12. Jay Dee - Say How I Feel (Remix) feat. Rhian Benson, Slum Village & Dwele
13. Buff1 - Never Fall feat. Black Milk
14. Elzhi - Motown 25 feat. Royce da 5'9"
15. Camp Lo - Say Word feat.  Jungle Brown
16. Aesop Rock - Limelighter feat. Camp Lo

The Suite Delight - 2014- 05-27 by Dj Solespin on Mixcloud

The Suite Delight - May 27, 2014 Playlist:

1. Quantic & Anita Tijoux - Doo Wop (That Thing)
2. Sola Rosa - Turn Around Ft. Iva Lamkum (DJ Vadim Remix)
3. The Seatbelts - Cat Blues (Mr. Scruff Remix)
4. James Brown - Funky Drummer
5. The Cactus Channel - Wooden Boy (Part 1)
6. The Roots – Don't Feel Right feat. Maimouna Youssef
7. J Dilla (aka Jay Dee) - Love Movin' feat. Black Thought
8. Nas - It Ain't Hard to Tell
9. Termanology - How We Rock Feat. Bun B
10. Marco Polo - Lay It Down Feat. Roc Marciano
11. Buff1 - Never Fall feat. Black Milk
12. The Extremities - New Season feat. Ohmega Watts & Moka Only
13. Lords Of The Underground - Tic Toc (Remix)
14. Lone Catalysts - The Ultimate (Kev Brown Remix)

The Suite Delight - February 25, 2014 (2) Playlist:

1. Nas - It Ain't Hard To Tell (Large Professor Remix)
2. Diverse - Uprock
3. Jay Dee - Pause feat. Frank-N-Dank
4. Strong Arm Steady - Questions
5. Souls of Mischief - That's When Ya Lost (Remix)
6. Soul Khan - Knuckle Puck
7. Quasimoto - Rappcats, Pt. 3
8. Supastition - Yada Yada
9. Murs & 9th Wonder - Murs Day
10. Mobb Deep - Win or Lose
11. Wale - Um'Ricka feat. K'Naan
12. K-Solo - Letterman (Pete Rock Remix)
13. The Extremities - Cold Cheese
14. D-Sisive x Tone Mason – Maybe I Will feat. DJ Grouch

The Suite Delight - January 14, 2014 (2):

1.       Robert Glasper Experiment - Perservere feat. Snoop Dogg, Lupe Fiasco & Luke James

2.       Outkast - Prototype

3.       Shad - He Say She Say

4.       A Tribe Called Quest - Bonita Applebaum

5.       Keith Murray - Get Lifted (Erick Sermon Remix)

6.       Theophilus London - Life of a Lover (Remix) feat. Blu & Jesse Boykins III

7.       Edo G - Righteous Way

8.       Donovan - Get Thy Bearings

9.       Rare Earth - Born To Wander

10.   Minnie Riperton - Reasons

11.   Clarence Carter - Patches

12.   Roy Ayers Ubiquity - The Memory

13.   Easy Star All Stars - Time (Groove Corporation Remix)

14.   Elaquent - The Official

15.   J Dilla - Last Donut of the Night

Jaylib - Champion Sound (2003)

Madlib was paired with Jay Dee, as I knew him, and I couldn’t have cared less at the time of its release. Neither were champions to me. It would take my discovering Madlib’s brilliance on Madvillainy to want to return to Champion Sound for even a listen.

As mentioned in prior posts, J Dilla was not in my good books and for him to be partnered with anyone mattered not to me.



If Madlib was the common denominator between the MF Doom & J Dilla collabos, I needed to give Champion Sound my undivided, unbiased attention.

Champion Sound can and still beats a good number of albums of its time and even this present time.

Suite For Ma Dukes

I watched the Suite for Ma Dukes DVD late one night. 

When it came time for Fall in Love to be performed, I watched it fighting back tears. 

I either get shivers or watery eyes whenever I hear Fall in Love. 

My head nods, hands are in the air and I'm thankful for that great piece of music and the man that produced it. 



Aside from it being an extremely touching and moving musical moment, I was made painfully aware that Jay Dee/J Dilla, the man that made one of my favorite songs of the last few years & could have made countless others had he still been alive, was dead and there will be no more.