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- Date Released: August 22, 2006
- Genre: Hip-Hop/R&B
- Style: Hip-Hop
- Label: BBE
A great producer's posthumous testament.
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We Say...
The first post-mortem record from the legendary producer — and, doubtless, not the last — The Shining was already three-quarters finished when Jay Dee passed away earlier in the year. But this album doesn't seem like a disjointed cash-in. Everything here feels complete; this is a producer-driven record that coheres tighter than most. It helps that the right MCs are matched to the right tracks: Common rides the bounce of the self-consciously retro-futuristic "E=MC2," which would've been the best Dilla-produced track on Electric Circus by a mile, while Busta Rhymes sounds crazier than he has in a decade yelling at a mosquito kazoo chorus of Beethoven's Fifth on the brief leadoff "Geek Down." Best of all are the "Love" tracks: the minute-long but substantial jazz-funk loop "Love Jones"; the elusive Pharoahe Monch rap-singing nonchalantly intense R&B on "Love"; the chart-ready macro-snap of MED & Guilty Simpson's "Jungle Love"; and "Love Movin'," which gives the Roots' Black Thought a rattling Afrobeat march to stomp through.
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They Say...
Months before he passed away, J Dilla asked fellow Detroiter and longtime associate Karriem Riggins to help him complete The Shining. With the album apparently 75 percent complete, Riggins -- an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and producer in his own right -- was handed the masters and went about the completion of the album as if he were inside the mind of Dilla. Though it's disjointed, a little bumpy, and -- in places -- perceptibly unfinished-sounding, The Shining is a very worthy addition to Dilla's discography. A slightly more in-depth synthesis of studio creations and live instrumentation when compared to the productions that have trickled out during 2005 and 2006, the album is drenched in soul -- save for a couple space-age basslines and other fleeting forms of alien synthetics -- and features an impressive raft of Dilla's favorite MCs and singers, big names and relative unknowns alike. And though it's less than 40 minutes in length, Dilla was always about brevity, which means the meandering is kept to a minimum. On "Baby," Dilla swaps lines with Guilty Simpson and Madlib in what amounts to an amusing locker-room boast fest. (Simpson, apparently a fan of The Surreal Life, claims he'll "Beat your dog like Flavor Flav.") The shamelessly gooey "So Far to Go," featuring Common and D'Angelo, expands Donuts' "Bye" to six minutes, allowing wide shafts of light to pour through the spaces between the subtle backbeat. "Dime Piece" is some prime 21st century quiet storm, a Dwele feature that coasts through twilight. Fittingly, the closing "Won't Do" is all-Dilla, from the beat to the nasty MCing to an impressive vocal hook that's nearly as dapper as anything delivered by Dwele. (Dilla's not given nearly enough credit for being a top-flight R&B producer from the very beginning; compare the Pharcyde's "Runnin'" to Mya's "Fallen," or check the instrumental versions of just about any one of his tracks.) It's impossible not to wonder exactly what this album could've been, or where Dilla would've gone with his skills after its release. But it's just as easy to marvel at the amount of quality music he generated while he was on this planet.
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| 01. |  |
Geek Down feat. Busta Rhymes |
1:53 |
|
| 02. | |
E=MC2 feat. Common |
3:17 |
|
| 03. | |
Love Jones |
1:01 |
|
| 04. | |
Love feat. Pharoahe Monch |
3:14 |
|
| 05. | |
Baby feat. Madlib & Guilty Simpson |
3:28 |
|
| 06. | |
So Far to Go feat. Common & D'Angelo |
5:36 |
|
| 07. | |
Jungle Love feat. MED & Guilty Simpson |
2:44 |
|
| 08. | |
Over the Breaks |
2:14 |
|
| 09. | |
Body Movin' feat. J. Rocc & Karriem Riggins |
2:17 |
|
| 10. | |
Dime Piece feat. Dwele (Remix) |
3:15 |
|
| 11. | |
Love Movin’ feat. Black Thought |
3:34 |
|
| 12. | |
Won't Do |
3:52 |
|
12 Total Tracks, 36:25 Total Length
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Credits
- Bob Power - Mixing // Dave Cooley - Mastering // Dave Cooley - Mixing // Dave Cooley - Tracking // Ron Croudy - Layout Design // Karriem Riggins - Drums // Karriem Riggins - Producer // Karriem Riggins - Executive Producer // Karriem Riggins - Soloist // Karriem Riggins - Bass Programming // Ahmir Khalib Thompson - Liner Notes // Dontae Winslow - Trumpet // Timothy Maynor - Executive Producer // Timothy Maynor - Management // Kelly Hibbert - Tracking
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