Let’s face it, posthumous albums usually suck. No matter how great the artist behind it is, the end results are usually disappointing. This is mainly because the artist was not around to see the project through until completion. You won’t find many people singing the praises of Notorious B.I.G.’s Duets or any Big Pun album not titled Capital Punishment – and don’t even get us started on 2Pac. That being said, J. Dilla’s last completed project was 2003’s Donuts, a classic, hypnotic mixtape of sorts released within a week of his death. Dilla was able to supervise every crumb of Donuts, right down to the artwork, leaving us with a haunting final word, that now plays like one long continuous song that loops infinitely, as the first and last tracks of the album blend into one another.

Months later, The Shining was released, which was more like a sequel to his earlier Beat Generation project, focusing on putting other emcees over his tracks. While the album was a different animal entirely than Donuts, it lacked the magnum opus like quality of his ambitious tribute to 7-inch soul. (Of course that point has been debated endlessly after his passing.) Since that year, we’ve received a handful of dessert entrees from Dilla’s bakery, which came in the form of the official re-release of Ruff Draft, and the unofficial releases of Jay Love Japan and a Busta Rhymes tribute mixtape. We’ve also received a few archival releases from the Delicious Vinyl catalog, in the form of a classic remix LP and collaborative album with younger brother Illa J.

Sadly, none of these projects lived up to the level of quality that Dilla created by himself when he was the soul controller, as other people were usually brought in to help fill in the blanks. Not to say these records weren’t good – they were great, in fact – but of course something was missing. With Dilla’s latest, Jay Stay Paid, he is paid the highest of honors however, with Pete Rock stepping in to oversee the completion of the album built around the sum of Jay’s various parts. As many know, Pete Rock was what J. Dilla aspired to be, one of the only producers he idolized.

Jay Stay Paid” is sort of a cross between Donuts and The Shining, mixing half-instrumental tracks and half vocal collaborations with various artists. It’s presented less like a mixtape and more like a radio show, hosted by Pete Rock himself, with samples of actual Dilla radio interviews dispersed throughout the mix. In a timeless moment, the host says “Special guest Jay Dee in the studio…. Not to be confused with Jermaine Dupri, we got the real one right here…” Dilla’s instrumental beats play as hypnotically as they did on Donuts, as songs like “King”, “Lazer Gun Funk”, and “I Told Ya’ll” start the album off. Different from Donuts however are the style of beats presented – less focus is put on allowing vintage soul vocals play over the track, as clearly these beats were meant for emcees to rock over. While it can feel a bit empty at times, as beats like “Glamour Sho75” seem to droll on and on, there’s also a certain infectious quality to them the sucks the listener in with consecutive listens.

On the vocal side of things, the album is fleshed out perfectly, with many of Dilla’s peers, heroes, and students coming through to pay tribute to the man. Interestingly we see M.O.P. make their first appearance on a Jay Dee beat on “Blood Sport”, as Dilla sampled their adlibs time and again throughout his career. The same can be said for Havoc and Raekwon, another pair of NYC based artists that never had the chance to collaborate with Dilla when he was alive, whom do so here on “24K Rap”. Even today’s generation of new emcees get to pay their respects, as Blu fits in pefectly on “Smoke” and Termanology appears on the vinyl only bonus track “Make It Fast” (also featuring Texas vet, Bun B).

Naturally, we also get a dose of Dilla’s close knit Detroit family, including each Phat Kat (“Digi Dirt”), Illa J & Cue Dee (“See That Boy Fly”), and Frank Nitti (“Pay Day”). But the album’s two strongest collaborations come from MF Doom and Black Thought. Doom’s “Firewood Drumstix” is almost torturous, as it gives the listener one more taste of the no-brainer collaborative album that never happened (and still should happen). Black Thought steals the show from everyone with “Reality TV”, a genius “Labels”-esque tale woven around the titles of various reality television shows.

As far as Dilla’s posthumous albums go, this is by far the best of the bunch. It’s obvious that plenty of time and care was taken in the reconstruction of Dilla’s old DATS and unused reels, and Nature Sounds hired the right man for the job with Pete Rock. While it would have been nice to see more of Dilla’s peers come out for the final (?) album (i.e. Q-Tip, Ghostface, Common, Busta, De La), the execution of the project is still pulled off without fail, and can guarantee that even from beyond the grave, Jay Stay Paid. – Pizzo