J Dilla - Ruff Draft

Rarely-heard masterpiece becomes lasting memorial

Stones Throw mark the first anniversary of the late J Dilla’s (aka Jay Dee, or plain James Yancey) passing, with the release of this deluxe, expanded version of his lost solo project, Ruff Draft (so titled because it was put together with the intention of sounding like an old cassette playing in a car stereo). Originally a vinyl-only release on Dilla’s newly-launched Mommy label in 2003, the Ruff Draft EP has since become hard to track down and is here reissued with the added attraction of previously unreleased vocal tracks, interludes and instrumentals spread across two CDs. Completed while he was at work on the Jaylib album Champion Sound with kindred spirit Madlib, Dilla headed in a new, rough-round-the-edges direction for Ruff Draft, contrasting sharply with the subtleties that had characterised his previous work. There is no doubting that this contains some of Dilla’s most abstract and inventively off-thewall production work. All things considered, the official release of this new, improved, Ruff Draft is the best possible tribute to a unique talent who still had much more to bring to hip-hop.

Stones Throw | STH 2153 (2-CD)

Reviewed by Grahame Bent
<< Back to Issue 335