Jay loves Japan

Aug 11, 2006

Jay loves Japan · by Sach O

It’s not to late to help out Dilla’s family and pay him for those mp3’s you downloaded.

You can’t really blame anyone for heaping praise on Dilla’s recent posthumous releases. I mean the critical establishment never even considered giving him his due before it was too late so there’s a fair amount of guilt involved. Much like Alfred Hitchcock’s lifetime achievement Oscar, the 5/5 reviews were for a career’s worth of classics rather than the material at hand. In all honesty though, as much as I admire Jay Dee for Donuts and enjoy the record, it still sounds like something made on a hospital bed: incredibly dope but limited by the man’s condition and equipment. The Shining comes closer to the Dilla we know and bumped, but still didn’t feel quite right. The good tracks were tremendously enjoyable, but you felt that he wasn’t quite ready to let that album out the gate.

Jay Loves Japan isn’t any more complete than it’s predecessors, but it’s still the most satisfying and knock ready of the final three projects Jay undertook. The album doesn’t feature Jay on the mic, but boasts his best production in a minute. No Sp303 grime and no neo-soul shimmer, Dilla instead mixes some choice samples (including a personal favorite from 100% Pure Poison’s album) and bouncy synths for some of his catchiest stuff in a minute. While not exactly falling into pop territory, all of them have a spacey, ethereal bump that was lacking from his recent releases. Guest emcees Taraach, Pacific Division, J Davey and Blu meanwhile all bely their unknown status by dropping some dope rhymes, with Blu being the obvious standout. The R&B vocals work as well, with Dilla actually actually calling up Truth Hurts from whereever ex-Dre proteges go to live out their lives. For a project with so many people involved, it’s surprisingly cohesive sounding more like a Jay Dee album than a compilation of his production work.

It’s not perfect, at 22 minutes (in promo form) it’ll leave you wanting more and a couple of instrumental and skit tracks could have used some rhymes but it’s hard to front on the project’s sheer playability: pop it in and you’ll probably be bumping back to back listens. I’ll be picking this one up, although hopefully the liner notes and packaging explain exactly why Jay Loves Japan. I’m as confused by the album title as you are.

Comments for "Jay loves Japan"

Well I will agree that it is the best of the three posthumous releases. However some of ur observations are a little jaded. Donuts sounds limited? How bout the fact that it completely blurs the lines between dj mixing and beatmaking. Some of the programming preformed on that record could not even be performed on older outboard gear (like the slowing and speeding up of “All I do is think of you Day and night” jackson 5) so in that respect it was ahead of its time. The Shining is good. def not his best work but again another style if you will. As far as the Album title I took it as him basically saying what most real artists who are overlooked by a US market due to lack of gimicks say. “overseaes has more love” For whatever reason I think its fair to say he loved Japaneese culture.So I’m afraid I don’t share the same confusion.

— Tone Aug 12, 01:50 AM
I agree with Tone 100% on Donuts. The album was genius, and any beatmaker knows he went through painstacking chopping and editing to achieve the greatness that is Donuts. He’s created a new style of beatmaking. Listen to his beat cd that came out prior to Donuts also. That too was genius.

— JoMaboo Aug 12, 02:00 AM
I like Donuts. But again, I think that it gets a lot of praise on account of the tragic situation surrounding J Dilla. Madlib and Kankick notably created similar projects on similar equipment.

This doens’t take away from Dilla. He put so much attention into those beats that they rise above most attempts of the genre. The Time stretching on Donut of the Heart in Particular and the incredible chops on Last Donut of the Night seperate him from the pack. Madlib on the other hand mostly went for straight loops. Both resulted in dope music in different ways but I can see where someone would appreciate Jay’s efforts as next level.

At the same time, I feel some of the superlatives to rate the album are slightly over the top. “Jay Loves Japan” is a better overall listen to me, complete “songs” which is something Dilla was particularly dope at.

— Sach Aug 12, 01:17 PM
yup agreed
donuts would not have been more that a spec on the radar if he did not pass on. I do like jay love japan best too. The Shining has some great cuts too. I like body movin and love jones (i actually like the promo ver. with the movie sample layered over it better!) I think the biggest problem with The Shining was all the vocals were kinda finished in a “memorial” type manner and thats where its lacking.

— Tone Aug 12, 11:45 PM
I don’t know y’all… I love all the brother’s work… My dream was to one day be able too work with him… All I can do now is pay a little tribute by boosting a beat off one of his beat CD’s (listen:”As Long As I” @ www.myspace.com/illnote). I think the release of the albums is more for the fans then anything. Sacha was right about some of it sounding not quite ready for release. But, at the end of the day, they are all solid and mos def bumpable…

— Kas Aug 13, 01:17 PM
the first single release for the shinning is Baby? If you are a fan of DillA on the mic you will notice a big difference in the tone of his delivery. This verse must have been recorded very late on.

— Tone Aug 13, 04:02 PM
dude, the mc’s on “baby” are guilty simpson and madlib, no dilla bro.

— eetz Aug 14, 09:07 AM
Dude? Bro? (gotta love those white boys) Listen to the song instead of just reading about it. Guilty does 8 bars then Dilla comes in and finishes the verse (12 bars?). pay attention eetz Bro!

— Tone Aug 14, 01:11 PM
Jay Love Japan certainly has an unfinished feel, as does The Shining. The latter feels more cohesive because of the movie samples, though. I’d say Donuts is the best of the 3.

One thing I appreciate about all of the albums is that they are heavy on string samples. For so many years, Jay was in his element with keys. It’s as if he made a conscious decision to work with strings. It shows that he was trying new things all the way to the end.

— eauhellzgnaw Aug 18, 02:29 PM
hey man JAY LOVES JAPAN is not even out yet and you’re already dissing THE SHINING. Fact is Dilla died making THE SHINING. Please give him some respect and let his work have some SHINE. After all THE SHINING is the record out of the three that could go mainstream since it’s more vocal orientated. I’d also argue that since he MCs, SINGS !!, plays bass, drums, synth and programming on The SHINING that it’s his most complete work as an artist. He doesn’t do all that on ANY other record.

— dilla fan Aug 22, 01:57 PM
“it still sounds like something made on a hospital bed”

WACK. Think of the pain he was going thru. Think of all the bullshit time he spent going for treatment. Then think of the amazing work he created under those conditions. Praise DILLA!

— lankone omega Aug 24, 12:01 AM
“Think of the pain he was going thru.”

You’re repeating exactly what I said, albight in a guilt inducing way: That he was going through an extremely difficult situation and that like it or not, it affected the music. Which might I add, I repeatedly said I still enjoyed.

I understand that for hardcore fans, every single outtake released will be classic. That’s what makes fans fans. However, rather than have curious non-fans buying what I believe to be good, if imperfect work made under extreme duress, I’d recommend they first try his stuff with the Pharcyde, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and Common/the Soulquarians. Not his dope but sadly incomplete final releases.

— Sach Aug 24, 12:19 AM
i can say all dilla’s work is the biz, cept i aint heard jay love japan yet, were can i get it? i agree his verse on baby sounds like it was a huge effort to spit it out, still the man is gold. how bout that track, “there’s a war goin on” that shit is tight. to many to mention….

— bogsaw Sep 1, 10:53 PM
well i think jdilla as an artist was one of the best and he really didnt get to go where he may intended to but with that being said his unfinished work may seem abstract to some but those of us who followed him before the death know what his vision was and had he had the chance to put his remaining work togther we would be overwhelmed once again. james yancey is and was the best producer out there light years ahead of the rest so it will be awhile before they catch up and even longer for the fans to completely get his whole work.

— jameel Dec 2, 05:24 PM
I gives a damn what yall say. In light of KanKick and Madlib, J Dilla’s Donuts was way better quality. I like Mad and Kan, but they don’t get knocked like Dilla’s Donuts.

— qst4 Dec 7, 08:44 PM
Anybody know whats the hold up w/jay loves japan,hit me up @myspace.com/vergesite

— verge Jul 27, 01:36 PM
All Dills projects are equally Ill and even if they don’t sound complete, he has the ability to connect any musical mind through his samples, live inst, and arrangments.

If you take the time and listen to these releases with a musical mind and not just bcs he’s passed on and u jumped the wagon like so many others u will see they are all equally as great. He kept it funky and gave us a lil something different on each track from all his releases.

And for the Dill Fan guy, check Welcome to Detroit, it has all that u mentioned and that was over 6 years ago!

Listen Bitches!!!
Rest In Beats Dills

— SlamWatty Aug 24, 12:06 AM
“One-Eleven”, “2 Can Win”, “Stop”, “Mash”, “Waves”, “Say It”, “Believe in God”, and “Dilla Won’t Do” are easily the coldest, hardest tracks that Mr. Yancey did!! He makes other beatmakers/producers sound really weak and lazy!! Who can front on those tracks????

— Aaron Dec 3, 08:49 PM
Just got Jay Love Japan and its one of the best albums I’ve heard recently. Dilla was genius, and never fails to raise the bar with his beats, even on his death bed.

Much respect.
Dilla Lives.

~~uno~~

— G Jan 20, 06:11 AM