Nature Sounds
2009
Jay Stay Paid
About This Album
Jay Stay Paid is a set of stray beats plucked by Pete Rock and Maureen "Ma Dukes" Yancey, Dilla's mom. Presented like a radio show slash mixtape, with snippets from radio interviews, nonintrusive interjections from Rock and Ma Dukes, and brief testimonials as part of the fabric -- not to mention an appearance from Illa J, Dilla's younger brother -- the hourlong program contains productions laid down during the last eight years of Dilla's life. Any producer not attempting to make a run at the charts would likely love to claim much of this work as his or her own; scholars won't be shocked that Dilla banked discards of this quality and range, but it's another thing to have a fraction of the man's surplus lovingly converted into a finished product. Several cuts are bound to scratch an itch you did not know you had. "Lazer Gunne Funke" makes like a Swizz Beatz demo for Busta Rhymes' "Touch It" stripped down to kick-clack percussion, bomb-drop F/X, and laser taps, left to bake in a decade's worth of direct sunlight. "On Stilts," "Glamour Sho75 (09)," and "9th Caller" deal impossibly gnarled funk, while the "Unadulterated Mix" of "Make It Fast" contorts David Essex's "Rock On" to such an extent that it comes out sounding like Edwin Starr's "Easin' In" (either that, or both songs are fused to the point of indivisibility).
Track List (try tracks 2,3,5,6,7,8,12,14,15,16,18,20,21,22,24,25 and 28)

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