J. Dilla - Pay Jay (Unreleased)

This album, recorded for MCA Records, was supposed to showcase Dilla’s skills on the microphone, with him recording over his favorite producers. Unfortunately, Dilla passed away, but the album leaked in bootleg form earlier this year.

1) Diamonds (Produced by Nottz)
Great way for the album to start. Admittedly, it doesn’t feel like an intro, but as the album was never truly finished, one can easily overlook that fact. Great production, loving the sample and the mellow feeling to the track. Dilla’s production skills have always overshadowed his rapping, but he holds his own on this track. Nothing amazing as far as wordplay or punchlines go, but he flows well and his lyrics work well with the track, with lines like “It’s so ugly when the ice lit/You with me, the feeling is priceless”

2) We F’d Up feat. Frank-N-Dank (Produced by Kanye West)
The beat hits hard, I found it annoying at first, but it grew on me as the song went on. The verses are nice, but the chorus is pretty dumb: “Chicago, Philly, San Diego, we F’d up!” for example. Wasn’t really feeling some of the lyrics, some of it was really basic, like “That’s how we do it, its nasty/and when we get F’d up, we get nasty.” In general though, its got a nice sound to it, and you can’t expect all songs to be lyrical. Definitely worth listening to in a party or a club.

3) Fuck The Police (Produced by J. Dilla)
Well, it’s produced by Dilla himself, so it obviously has some nice production to it. The lyrics are pretty nice as well…though they’re not always sophisticated or anything, they flow real nice, such as “And see now we got these fake cops/”I thought he had a gun, I made a mistake” cops/I hate cops…” Though the anti-police songs have been done a million times, Dilla succeeds on this track, its nice.

4) Remember feat. Bilal (Produced by Pete Rock)
Essentially a letter to his ex-girlfriend (damn, bet she’s kicking herself for leaving him), this track is really dope. I wasn’t really liking Bilal’s parts, they sort of dragged on, but Dilla definitely makes up for it in his parts. He sets the tone from his first bars – “Remember me? Take a look baby/Yes, this your ex, he off the hook, ain’t he?”, and doesn’t look back

5) Fight Club feat. Nottz & Boogieman (Produced by Waajeed)
The chorus is…meh, just some whiny “singing” of the phrase “up in the club”. However, the production is dope, nice grimy feel to it, and the lyrics don’t disappoint. I liked the sudden end of the track after the lines, “and act like you know, sip up, get out/or get it outside when the club let out”

6) Creepin’ On You (Produced by Hi-Tek)
Nice beat, a little clustered at the beginning, but it sounds decent. The lyrics are dope, though at the beginning they are a little unoriginal (“I’m down with OPP, yeah you know me”, “I’m not a player I just crush a lot”), but they are still well-delivered, flow well, and are still pretty good and even a bit humorous: “There’s nothing left to do but send her home to you/I’m through…till the next time we screw.”
7) Trucks (Producer Unknown)
Nice beat, the chorus is sort of annoying, though. The lyrics are good, but there are occasional long pauses that sound a bit awkward, in which Dilla pretty much just ad-libs. Definitely some lines I like, him bragging and shit, like “And all through my system, tweeters that knock/My truck set off alarms when it beat up your block”

8) No One Knows (Produced by Supa Dave West)
Loving the sample and the beat on this one. Also, Dilla’s flow really goes with the beat, as he puts phrases like “no one’s home” over where it says “no one knows.” The track’s short, but very dope.

9) Drive Me Wild (Produced by ?uestlove and Kareem Riggins)
Didn’t like this song much…the beat’s OK but nothing special and the dual voices that make up the verses and chorus aren’t really rapping as they are reciting or even chanting. Luckily this track’s short, only about two and a half minutes. My least favorite track on the album.

10) Unknown Track (Produced by Bink Dawg)
Though the title of this track isn’t known, Dilla makes it clear that this is his diary. Dilla’s talking about his life in Detroit and his family and friends. Nice production and very dope lyrics. The only bad thing I can say about this track is that its TOO short, clocking in at only a minute and 18 seconds…it would have been really great if it had gone on, cause it was personal and sounded great.

11) Remember (Remix) feat. Bilal (Producer Unknown)
Just the Remember track on a different beat. This version sorta highlights the singing more, I was feeling the chorus more. It has a more mellow feel than before, but in general its about the same.


I was on the fence with Dilla as an MC, though I’m a huge fans of his production work. This CD took me off that fence, as he held his own on the beats. Without a doubt worth a listen, though with so few tracks, the few misses were more noticeable.

Grade: B+

-DKE