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Though the demand for Mick Boogie's newly-released mixtape Dillagence, featuring Busta Rhymes and J Dilla, has been so high that it knocked out his website for a large part of the day, I managed to get my hands on a copy of the tape thanks to an assist from my man JB.
The idea of hearing some new production from Jay Dee had me pretty excited, but that excitement was tempered by the thought of having to listen to an entire tape's worth of rhymes from rapper/actor/Stop Snitching advocate Busta Rhymes. Busta has put out some nice work with Dilla in the past, but this is no longer the energetic, spaced-out Busta Rhymes from the Scenario and Woo Ha! days (or even the Y2K-fearing Busta) that would fit so well over his beats. Busta's postmillenial career has become a case study in When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong, and the idea of a collaboration between him and J Dilla just doesn't have the creative potential that it once would have. That isn't to say that Dilla's beats can't work with hardcore rhymes - witness Biggie's verse on Modern Day Gangstas - it's just that Busta no longer has the verbal dexterity to keep pace.
Yet, a year and a half after his passing, hip hop heads are still fiending for more of Dilla's donuts. Putting up with Busta, who admittedly puts forth a better effort on Dillagence than on anything else he's done since signing up with Aftermath, is a small price to pay to be able to get sixteen more tracks from the late, great Dilla (and there are enough guest appearances on here to keep things interesting). Not all of the tracks are new, and I suspect that diehard fans have heard a lot of the beats on here in some form or another, but virtually every one of them is dope.
As for Mick Boogie, if it wasn't already the case before he released Dillagence, he would now seem to be the unanimous choice for mixtape dj of the year. In a year that's seen the RIAA attempt to kill off the format, resulting in many of the biggest names in the game moving on to "legitimate" careers, there hasn't been much to look forward to for fans of the mixtape. Compounding the problem has been an influx of new djs all competing for the same "exclusives," foregoing the use of blends and originality in favor of the latest album cuts that have leaked onto the P2P networks, pushing out dozens of new tapes every week that all sound the same. Props to Mick Boogie for keeping the mixtape game alive.
Two tracks from Dillagence:
Raekwon and Dilla - Baggage Handlers
Bussa Buss and Dilla - Takin' What's Mine
Here's a link to download the Mick Boogie's Dillagence featuring Busta Rhymes and J Dilla. Shout out to my man JB for hooking it up. Apologies in advance if the link expires (keep checking Mick Boogie's site for updated d/l links).
Click here to purchase a limited edition of the mixtape, with a portion of the proceeds (I don't know how big of a portion, however) going towards the J Dilla Foundation.
11/27/2007 08:00:01 PM posted by Fresh