Motor City

Audio Mixer: J-Rocc.
Wrapped in a mock mailing envelope, Motor City adds to the overwhelming pile of posthumous J Dilla compilations. Put together by the producer's mother, Maureen "Ma Dukes" Yancey, it contains 19 "rare + remastered" beats -- just over half-an-hour's worth of episodic instrumentals -- and a dutiful J-Rocc mix based on them, slightly shorter in duration. As with most of the Dilla releases commercially issued since February 2006, there's no knowing whether the producer intended to have any of this material, in this form, available commercially. Some of it recirculates pre-Donuts beat tape material previously heard only by those who either received a copies from the maker or heard dubs and uploads. Other tracks became the basis of official and earlier posthumous output. "Motor City 12," for instance, is a raw segment of "The Anthem," off The Diary. Anyone who knows Mos Def's The Ecstatic will recognize "Motor City 9," while "Motor City 3" features some of the elements heard on Jay Stay Paid highlight "Lazer Gunne Funke." A much smaller portion of the album could be termed previously unreleased. ~ Andy Kellman