Album Review – Dilla

Various

“Dillanthology”

(Rapster)

During his tragically short lifetime, Detroit’s James ‘Dilla’ Yancey amassed a catalogue of production work that quickly elevated him to the level of longstanding greats such as Dr. Dre, DJ Premier and Pete Rock. Before he passed away in 2006 at the age of 32 following complications with the blood disease lupus, the Motown sound mechanic had worked with everyone from local acts such as Phat Kat and Que D, to legends like A Tribe Called Quest and Busta Rhymes. Dilla’s ever-evolving production style ranged from the soulful to the unabashedly hardcore to the experimental, drawing on the sounds of yesteryear for inspiration whilst always seeking to push his talent (and love of fat drums) to the limit, taking his music in new directions in the process.

This compilation acts as a timely reminder of Dilla’s brilliance, pulling together a cross-section of his work for a relatively brief 11-track overview of his career. The Pharcyde’s excellent “Runnin’” is included here (the 1995 cut that helped introduce a young Jay Dee to a worldwide audience), with Dilla’s infectious piano loop adding a tangible sense of energy to the West Coast crew’s motivational lyrics. Common’s “The Light” is also present and correct, displaying Dilla’s talent for adding melody to even the heaviest of drums, setting off Lonnie Lynn’s bohemian love raps with his inspired use of a Bobby Caldwell vocal sample that still makes the spine tingle nearly a decade later.

Elsewhere, Erykah Badu’s “Didn’t Cha Know” oozes subtle sophistication as it seeps from the speakers like a hazy cloud of relaxing weed smoke, whilst De La Soul’s stinging criticisms of a shallow mid-90s rap world heard on “Stakes Is High” still ring true today, powered along by Dilla’s rallying horns and filtered bass. Closing the compilation on a more up-to-date note, the hypnotic back-to the-future soul flavour of Steve Spacek’s 2005 single “Dolla” hints at where the Detroit icon was perhaps looking to take his production prowess next.

Yet whilst any opportunity to celebrate Dilla’s talent should be welcomed, “Dillanthology” would have benefited from digging a little deeper into the Slum Village maestro’s back-catalogue and unearthing some of his lesser-known material. This project definitely contains some classics, but ultimately, there’s little here that even the most casual of Dilla fans won’t already have in their collections.

Ryan Proctor

The Pharcyde - “Runnin’” ( Delicious Vinyl / 1995 )