The multi-talented and influential inner workings of Detroit’s J Dilla (Jay Dee) have become a bridge of many worlds in the turn of the century. There are records in his legacy that have influenced an entire generation of beat producers and it is unknown how many works he left behind, but it is known that his tireless efforts to document his works came in the same type of waves as Madlib and other prolific producers. There is no producer, mc, musician and dj like him. His sense of harmony, rhythm, composition, genre merging and his ability to play with a multitude of instruments put him light years ahead of his contemporaries. Hearing all of his works with the production crews The Ummah and The Soulquarians in retrospect, I gain an immediate perspective that these were sounds from the future and are still of the future shaping current realities. J Dilla caught my attention with Common’s Like Water For Chocolate in 2000 and the search has never ended for new songs, releases, collaborations along with old production I never knew he had a hand in creating or created entirely himself. J Dilla was one of the few beat producers in the early 2000′s that was doing something completely different than what was on the radio but was still being looked at by majors to sign. MCA Records had put J Dilla on their roster and scheduled the release of a record in early 2000′s but his release with them never materialized due to complications beyond J Dilla’s control. Some artists thrive in this situation and some fold and J Dilla decided to conquer this road bump with the creation of the LP Ruff Draft and a determination to not deal with major labels. Ruff Draft was released in 2003 in the aftermath of this failed MCA release and shows J Dilla diving heavily into many different modes of sound with a raw and invigorating touch to the past producers that defined the 80′s and 90′s and a nod to what will come in future producers. There is no centralized sense of a coast or area that traps J Dilla, his sound is universal and timeless and Ruff Drafts was one the beginning of these statements under one LP. This was a set of works unknown to most J Dilla fans at the time of release though. He had just changed his name from Jay Dee to J Dilla and many of his major productions did not show his name, only the production units he was apart of.

Stones Throw Records would be J Dilla’s main label for the bulk of his solo career. The arrival of his highly influential full length Donuts on Stones Throw 3 days before his departure is all too surreal when hearing how much of a masterpiece the record is and the shock wave of influence still felt in artists to this day. J Dilla was unstoppable and his skill levels on so many different instruments allowed him to absorb sounds constantly. I feel it was this secret weapon of his that allowed him to grow and expand at a rate unlike any producer around him. Stones Throw would repress a proper format of Ruff Draft in 2007, shedding light on this hidden gem to many dedicated and new fans of his works. Included in the repress as a second disc was the instrumentals, something that every J Dilla fan I know craves to get their hands on. Stones Throw was pressing many albums with special instrumental bonus discs, Quasimoto, Madvillain, it was a good time to be on top of Stones Throw as everything was hitting so hard. When I grabbed a copy of the 2007 repress of Ruff Draft and listened to the instrumentals, I fell in love right away. Last month, Stones Throw separated the instrumentals with new mixing and mastering from the original tapes and a proper LP cover under the title Ruff Draft Beats. Released in the digital, CD and vinyl realm, this is an instrumental release that every fan of his works should own.

Dusty vinyl sounds, hypnotically heavy snare and hi hat, classic jazz breaks, futuristic synth tones and a smooth electronic funk emphasized on the low end, every track on Ruff Drafts Beats reverberates a dedication to space, harmony and a never ending pallet for creation. Songs like ‘Reckless Driving’, ‘The $’ and ‘Take Notice’ sound like beats you would hear on any Brainfeeder release while tracks like ‘Let’s Take It Back’, ‘Make’em NV’ and ‘Shouts’ show the bombastic rawness that traces to his origins of making MPC mixes and trying to emulate producers like Pete Rock. ‘Nothing Like This’ is the most abstract instrumental out of the collection, showing a sonic mix that is transfixed in swirling tones, cross fading reversed loops and heavy drum breaks that keep the song balanced. As it rotates in sequences, it feels like it is about to fall out of the mix, leaving only the bass and drums behind. Liquid in tone and heavy on the low end, ‘Nothing Like This’ shows a balance between the experimental deviations that create new worlds and the foundational pasts that many of his rhythm sections reside in. My favorite track on the record has to be ‘Intro’, with a lush, vibrant and beautiful feeling, there is an aura of happiness and nostalgia to the past. The vocals drift over a head nodding beat and the light fills the tracks unlike anything else on the album.

2012 is a new year for J Dilla’s Ruff Draft to give the world energy from the dedicated people at Stones Throw have preparing this special vinyl only run of the instrumentals. These are some of my favorite beats from J Dilla and highlight a human being who bridged so many cultures of producers. It is from this bridge that to define his sound into one category would be impossible. This is the blueprint and ethos of J Dilla as he became the underground artists he knew he was destined to be from day one. This is past, present and future of what J Dilla has done for the world and it’s all under the name Ruff Draft Beats.

J Dilla
Rough Draft Beats
Stones Throw Records

1. Let’s Take it Back
2. Reckless Driving
3. Nothing Like This
4. The $
5. Make’em NV
6. Crushin’
7. Intro
8. Wild
9. Take Notice
10. Shouts

Order the CD, Vinyl or Digital from Stones Throw Records

From Stones Throw Records:

Stones Throw has reissued J Dilla’s Ruff Draft Instrumentals with a long-overdue LP cover.

These self-produced tracks make up one of the late J Dilla’s least known works during his lifetime. Released on vinyl only in February 2003, Ruff Draft EP was elusive and virtually unknown to the casual Dilla fan until Stones Throw’s reissue in 2007. Recorded in the wake of a failed deal with major label MCA, Dilla returned to solo recordings as a fiercely independent artist with Ruff Draft.  

Tracks on this single vinyl disc were taken from J Dilla’s original master tapes, mixed and remastered by Dave Cooley & Kelly Hibbert.

(Source)

*All Photos from Stones Throw Records

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Take a walk in the past with this newly unearthed 90′s era Slum Village song with Jay Dee (J Dilla) showing his MC skills along side his production work.

Unreleased Slum Village produced J Dilla
Check the full story at http://bling47.com/site/slum-village-tell-me/

Slum Village ‘Tell Me’