Thelonious Martin Deep-Fried "A Dozen For Dilla Vol. 2"

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The legacy of James Dewitt Yancey, better known as J Dilla, is no better immortalized than through the ear and sound vocabulary of Thelonious Martin. Dilla's posthumous student has made it a tradition to deliver A Dozen For Dilla on the Birthday of hip hop's greatest producer.

And he made it a dessert.

Martin's A Dozen For Dilla Vol. 2 deep-fries a tastier cassette quality into the music greater than the previous volume did. Thelo, over the span of 12 songs, disregards chopping to the melody of his samples and loads his drums and percussion throughout the song regardless of the melody. The opening track Makeitbetter extends the sample for more beats than it should be going for. The Bedows featured song Thesun threads in a disgustingly good synth bass earworm that shoves Thelonious' grainy drums to a place of sounding on the cuff. That penultimate rhythm is lively and it certainly flatters Martin's closer, Angel. His bassline on Angel rattles the low end of the song naturally in a Jay Dee fashion, something mirroring E=MC2.

The song Nickelbags (feat. I Z) sneaks up on you and is firmly my favorite. Once you hear the obvious sample (that will not be named) the tempo has drastically been brought down, hearing how Martin flips and loops the iconic riff calls for a wincing move. The groove of it all is like nothing I have ever heard from Thelonious before. And I Z's synth bass croaks a gooey foundation to lock in the ride of that melody, as cut up as it is. All of the songs are just delicious.

Thelonious Martin made his dough with J Dilla's techniques but sprinkled his individual producer make up on the finished product. You can hear the love for Dilla as well as the fun in making the music. This one will have you bobbing your head on Earth while the great one does the same at the donut shop in the sky. A perfect way to celebrate an everlasting influence.

R.I.P. J Dilla.

Listen to A Dozen For Dilla Vol. 2 below.

Lead Photo Cred: soundcloud.com
             

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