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Soundcloud Surfing is a weekly feature that is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of focusing on the brand new music, we dig into the Soundcloud archives and pull out some gems. Enjoy, and check out previous editions here.
Yesterday, Friday February 4, would have bee the 40th birthday of the legendary producer J Dilla, and next Monday (February 10) is the eighth anniversary of his passing. Dilla’s influence looms large to this day, not just over the hip-hop landscape, but beyond, with everyone from Madlib to Disclosure to Joy Orbison speaking reverentially of his production genius.
Dilla’s body of work from his lifetime is vast and well worth exploring, but since his death an almost uncountably large number of rappers (just check Soundcloud or YouTube) have spit on his beats, whether that be for official projects like The Return of Detroit or for their own mixtapes or tracks. Often, the results suck, but occasionally they’re worth your time.
Here are seven times rappers used J Dilla beats and it didn’t suck.
J Dilla ft. Danny Brown & DJ Dez – “Jay Dee’s Revenge”
Joey Bada$$ x J Dilla “Two Lips” creatively designed by Akomplice
KAZE – “Jacked Up (J Dilla Remix)”
J Dilla ft. Big Sean – “Two Can Win”
J Dilla – Players (TDE Remix) (ft. Punch, Kendrick Lamar & Jay Rock)
Smoke DZA ft. Joey Bada$$ – “Gotham Fucking City” (Prod. By J Dilla)
Asher Roth – “F*ck Your Ringtone Dog” (served by J Dilla)
