Day 4 – and probably the final day – of J Dilla Appreciation Week.
Word to Slum Village, Dilla’s former group and a criminally slept-on hip-hop collective based out of Detroit:
It’s hard to put into words my appreciation for the music of Slum Village, particularly Dilla. I don’t want this post or this series to come off like a mash note. But I can’t help how I feel about them and their contribution to hip hop.
Respect must be paid.
Dilla had a hand in the kind of music that will always keep me connected to the genre, even if I have to endure countless hours of Soulja Boy or Gucci Mane or Maino (but let’s not push it). And even if I become as old and out-of-touch with popular music as I thought my parents did when I was a kid.
Who knows? Maybe it’s already happened.
But “Thelonius” sounds as fresh to me today as it did in 2000, when I was wanna-be backpacker in Fort Worth, which is at least four hours away from any hip-hop hub worth mentioning.
Today, I can’t tell you anything about Young Money. I’ll probably never care for the Black-Eyed Peas (again). And I still can’t understand the fuss over Snoop (anymore).
But we can always find common ground if you’re good with “The Love Movement.”
So, hope you all enjoyed this series as much as I did. If anything, it reminded me that I need to dig a little deeper into my crates.
Also, I can’t forget to mention “Little Brother” with Black Star. I was just put on to this earlier this week. The whole thing is so nice it almost made me leave work early today.