If you would have told me in 2006 that by 2016 I would actively avoid new J Dilla releases, I likely would have karate chopped everybody in the place in the throat. Sadly, posthumous mismanagement, pettiness, and sub-standard quality control has brought many Dilla fanatics to this weird place. It feels like a break-up.
But there's a ray of light. Pay Jay was talked about as the holy grail. In the deluge of beat tapes and demos that made their way to the internet, the full llength album Dilla cut for MCA remained in the vaults. Even as select songs leaked, us fans never had the full project in our hands. Until 2016.
Folks like Egon, J. Rocc and House Shoes have been culling hard drives, recovering sessions and filling in technical gaps to bring the last project Dilla intended for release to the masses. Read the last part of that sentence again.
Pay Jay is beautifully raw. After garnering some mainstream buzz for his production, Dilla went left with what was to be his mainstream debut. He only produced a track or two and instead reached out to a trusted cadre of like-minds to craft the soundscapes while Dillz focused on the bars. His innate rhythm, perfect delivery and pitch-perfect cadences are why Black Thought, known as an artists' artist, calls him the best producer on the mic.
"The Introduction" is the first track off Pay Jay. It's produced by Dilla's longtime friend and ardent supporter, DJ House Shoes.