Like De La in ’91, I got a crazy hankering for donuts. Not the delicious snacks that haunt my dreams—I’m speakin’ on Donuts, the new instrumental album from my favorite producer J Dilla, out on BBE Records. Much like its appetizing namesake, Donuts is a collection of tasty loops. If you’ve heard those Dilla beat tapes that made the rounds, then you know the flavor—erratically chopped up soul morsels, twitchy drum programming; really, it kinda reminds one of MF Doom and Madlib. Gone are the synapse-flattening drumslaps and paranoiac keyboards of Welcome to Detroit, though, as is the dreamy warmth of Slum Village‘s Fantastic Vol. 2. Donuts is great stuff and all, but the record lacks Mr. Yancey’s unmistakable distinctiveness; I’ve always appreciated how dude switches up his style, and here he just sounds like his best-indie-producers contemporaries.
This Wednesday, December 21, Unexpected Arrival is celebrating. UA (AKA Neema Khorammi) will be ringing in his birthday by rocking a set at Chop Suey alongside Ricky Pharoe, Tru ID, Cash Carter, Content, and Grynch, with DJ Stylz holding it down on the turntables. Double-time rhymer Neema’s got another reason to celebrate—with radio love from KUBE and X-104, plus the consistent grind of Neema and his team, his latest album, My Life for Sale, has moved over 5,000 copies locally. Hella people hate on the boy, but you have to respect his work ethic, cuz son is kinda doing it. And speaking of Pharoe, peep him at www.1983inc.com to check the video for his jam “Over and Over.” Like I said awhile back, don’t sleep on Ricky’s album Civilized… And while you’re on the internet go ahead and check out BlockBurner general Redskin‘s video for “This Is Me,” off of the forthcoming album of the same name. It’s very well done, fleshing out Skin’s storytelling vision nicely.
The homies of the dRED-I Movement can be found on the new Def Sentence Mixtape. The tape features appearances from dRED-I and Portland’s Hungry Mob, and proceeds benefit prisoner literacy. If you see dRED-I’s GLC-1 outside the show slangin’ ’em, get you one.
You’ll also be able to check dRED-I, Unexpected Arrival, and Damian Black—along with Atlantic Records’ newjack crooner Trey Songz—on December 17 at the Eagles Hall (6205 Corson Ave S). The show is to celebrate Jump Off Magazine‘s launch party. That same day is the “Jump Off Invitational” at Garfield High School, featuring top high school b-ball squads facing off, starting at 1:30 p.m.
I told y’all about it before, but Mr. Hill‘s Snaps! CD is pretty damn great, especially now that I have a copy. Hill’s gritty soundscapes are graced by his Oldominion compatriots, as well as Seattle favorites like Silas Blak and Jace of Silent Lambs Project, as well as the Saturday Knights/Gra’ain MC Tilson and Candidt. 