The Shining - J Dilla (2006)

Dilla was one of the great minds in modern music. He’s gone too soon, but he didn’t put his name on much that was sub-par.

This is a collection of tracks he’d been preparing before his death, slightly reworked for release after he passed.

Busta Rhymes starts off by explaining to us what a MF’in emergency this is. I sometimes discount what Mr. Rhymes says because, well, he’s a lot. But in this case I think he has the right of it.

There’s an all-star lineup of the amazing artists he’d worked with and befriended over the years. It’s a mostly joyous album, which helps keep the mood up while dealing with the fact that some of Dilla’s best work came at the end of his life.