C$ & DJ Chase - Ladies Can I Have Your Attention 1989

Kid ‘n Play - Bounce 1994

Black Attack - My Crown 1998

Missin’ Linx - M.I.A. 1998

Ghetto Pros f. Tony Touch - We See Yall 2003

Victor Padilla is one of those producers that are always kind of around but are so elusive that they remain a mere production credit to most listeners. Maybe he’s partly to blame as he rarely ever presented himself as a solo producer. We probably first took notice of him when he rhymed on The Beatnuts’ “World’s Famous,” standing in for the incarcerated Fashion, boasting, “V.I.C., droppin’ styles you ain’t used to / nice with the lyrics, when I produce I get looser / Beats I got plenty, they come a dime a dozen / I got more beats than Puerto-Ricans got cousins.” Little is known about his actual input into early Beatnuts tracks. There’s Kid ‘n Play’s “Bounce” (off “House Party 3″), which is credited to the Nuts, but for which only he and Kid get writing credits. He’s a Beatnut on Kurious’ 1994 album, but produces ‘for Groove Merchantz’ on their own full-length debut from the same year.

Which would mean that sometime around 1994 Padilla left The Beatnuts and hooked up with Godfather Don to form the production team Groove Merchantz. Together they did some singles exclusive stuff, a Rawcotiks joint or two, a remix for House of Pain’s “On Point,” the “One L” remix of “One Love,” posse tracks like Bas Blasta’s “The Rhythm” and Kurious, Sadat X and Mike G’s “Mansion and a Yacht.”

A few years later you could find him alongside Junkyard Ju, going by the name of the Ghetto Professionals, who in the later ’90s became the Ghetto Pros when JuJu was replaced by Mike Heron. As one half of the Ghetto Pros, V.I.C. has collected the majority of his production credits so far, working with some of the greatest to ever do it, from Rakim to Kool G Rap to Big Pun to Inspectah Deck. A couple of years ago, the Ghetto Pros announced an album, which to my knowledge never materialized, unless we’re taking into account “Studio Sessions Vol. 1,” which apparently was only released in Australia and/or Japan.

Thanks to Stones Throw reissuing this single in 2003, we are able to start at the very beginning of Victor Padilla’s production career, C$ & DJ Chase’s “Ladies Can I Have Your Attention” from 1989. From this solid Golden Era showcase we jump right into the middle of the ’90s with “Bounce,” where we catch Kid ‘n Play updating their sound with a little bit of help from V.I.C. Black Attack’s “My Crown” can be found on the first Rawkus “Soundbombing” comp, but deserves your undivided attention with its horn-filled hook with the Slick Rick sample. Black was also part of the crew Missin’ Linx (which also included the aforementioned Fashion AKA Al’ Tariq). Their “M.I.A.” pre-dates Dr. Dre’s “The Next Episode,” making equally good use of the David McCallum sample. We close the session with Tony Touch guesting on a Ghetto Pros single from 2003, “We See Yall.”

To this day, V.I.C. represents the beat-digger type producer. Nothing illustrates this better than the following excerpt from an interview conducted with Galt MacDermot by Eothen Alapatt for www.worldofbeats.com:
Read the rest of this entry »

Mad Skillz - It’s Goin’ Down 1996

Chino XL - Don’t Say A Word 2001

When I learned of Dilla’s death, I instantly knew it would affect others much more than me. Ever since he had established himself in the production game, Jay Dee was estimated to a point I could never quite relate to. Possibly fueled by what I perceived as exaggerated worship, I began to tax his influence on hip-hop as negative. I particulary thought his involvement in A Tribe Called Quest had a devastating effect on the group, seeing how I hated “Beats, Rhymes and Life” and “The Love Movement” almost as much as I loved “The Low End Theory” and “Midnight Marauders.” As an outside influence that hadn’t initially been there, he seemed like an ideal scapegoat. Whenever people come up with something innovative, there will always be some that get left behind. Sticking to my old habits of hard drums and ill loops, I consider myself one of those who got left behind by Dilla. Given the great number of people that appreciated what he did, he probably wasn’t ahead of his time, but he certainly was ahead of me.

But now that this exceptional career has been tragically cut short, I’m beginning to grasp the scope of the legacy the man leaves behind. In his recent blog entry, Soul-Sides’ Oliver Wang already summed up James Yancey’s unique position before I could come to terms with my feelings. Jay Dee was a representative of a new approach to hip-hop. He helped guide the music away from the shelters of instant sample recognition. But instead of exposing it to rugged urban terrain, he created dreamscapes where the colors were lighter, the outlines less definite and the pulse slower.

His style didn’t come out of nowhere. Within hip-hop, it can be traced back to early ’90s ATCQ and post-EPMD Erick Sermon (”Double Or Nothing”). But as with all breakthrough achievements, it takes someone to test the limits of any new approach and push it over the edge, hoping it will fly. That was Jay Dee’s role. On the other hand, he wasn’t a loner and was always willing to be part of a collective, be it Slum Village, The Ummah or The Soulquarians.

Dilla made atmospheric hip-hop that worked in subtler ways than I had been used to. His beats didn’t whip you into a frenzy, they calmed your nerves. That is, if you were willing to succumb to their charm. Like there is an ideal audience, there is also an ideal rapper for a producer. In Dilla’s case, to me Common was that ideal rapper. Others often didn’t quite seem to grasp the delicacy of his music. The same could probably be said for the two vocalists gracing the beats in our second Dilla commemoration, the way they battle and brag like they always do. But because Mad Skillz and Chino XL are both high caliber MC’s, I’m not distracted by sub-par rapping. I can’t help myself, the quality of the vocals remains a factor when I judge a producer’s work. The idea behind these selections is also to highlight the two major periods Yancey’s work can be divided into. “It’s Goin’ Down” represents the earlier, richer Jay Dee sound, “Don’t Say A Word” the later, loftier J Dilla style of production.

Rest in peace.

Jay Dee - Fuck The Police 2001

RIP James Yancey.

Love him or hate him, Jay Dee was one of the most influential and unique producers in hip-hop over the last decade and change. His style was versatile, from some unquestionable club bangers (”Breathe and Stop”) to bizarre experimental rap (most of “Jaylib”) to his early boom bap (”Drop,” “Stakes Is High” etc). His aesthetic transcended sound; it’s hard to say what makes a Dilla beat a Dilla beat, but somehow it’s easy to draw a line between the blip-hop of Royce’s “Let’s Grow” and his almost straightforward remix of Mood’s “Secrets of the Sand.” And when dude was putting in so much work it was easy to be versatile.

I don’t really have all that much to say about “Fuck the Police.” It was a one-off single on Up Above that had a huge buzz. I ignored it (because I was never the biggest fan) until I heard someone spin it in New Orleans a few years later. It was a “put your drink down and go get at the dj about that track” moment.

Truly a legend, Jay Dee is survived by his moms, a grip of mediocre emcees who are out a much-needed beat scholarship, and, no doubt, legions of biters. For a much better retrospective, check out David Drake’s piece in Stylus.

And go pick up Donuts, it’s great.