Posts tagged Freeway

J Dilla was one of the best producers ever, before he was cruelly taken away from us almost 3 years ago. His music stood out for representing the culture of dope soulful beats, many of which were proper hip hop, head nodding business, and they felt deep and real. It’s not often you have a producer who was able to construct a colossal series of beats, often from very obscure sources, which were evocative and soulful. So his passing away at a still young age was a real wounding loss for music. As the hip hop proverb goes, J Dilla changed my life!

Coming up to the 3rd anniversary of his passing, one talented rapper by the name of Termanology has released a mixtape in tribute, called If A Heaven Was A Mile Away. One the biggest highlights on this compilation is the all stars line up on the ‘Say It’ beat; a seriously great dreamy style record that was on the Jay Loves Japan compilation. I had waited ages for that compilation, just for that blazin instrumental.  Here is the joint:

[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cm8EhkckLXg]

This whole all stars project is incredible; featuring Joell Ortizz, Saigon, Bun B, Freeway, Sheek Louch and Termanology himself. So you know there ain’t no messing about here with a strong choice of credible artists. And all the rappers drop sick rhymes, ride the beat with fire while doing their own thing; they all flip the script coz the instrumental sounds slow and mellow holding it on its own, but when all the rappers get hold of the beat, they turn it into some hyped up energetic smash with all the fighting talk. And it makes you think about the many ‘could have been’ J Dilla productions which could have been transformed and raised the profile of the guy that didn’t get the credit he deserved.

If I was to pick a favourite, it would be Bun B as I think he made the most of his 16 bars. Who represented for you?

Posted by: Broken Soul Boy