The Shining [Explicit]

J Dilla | Format: MP3 Download

Product Details

• Original Release Date: October 3, 2006
• Release Date: October 3, 2006
• Label: BBE RECORDS
• Copyright: BBE Records 2006
• Total Length: 36:25
• Genres:
• Format: Explicit Lyrics
• ASIN: B000TEPHX2
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Than Words..., August 24, 2006

By 

J. D. Trevathan (Knoxville, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shining (Audio CD)

J Dilla is the man. I say is because he lives on since his beats are still going to be released thanks to Dilla's mom and his best friend Karriem Riggins, who helped throw this CD together. Riggins and Dilla used to get into beat making contests together, so you know this CD was in the right hands.

The production is classic, but some of the emcees leave a little to be desired. The exceptions are Guilty Simpson, MED, Pharoahe Monch, Dwele and Black Thought. Common, D'Angelo and Busta Rhymes don't do what they're capable of doing and I wish Madlib did some Lord Quas on "Baby," even though the track is fire enough as it is. This CD should get more play time than Donuts due to emcees being on it, but Donuts is a better album. They even recycled the beat from the track "Bye" on "So Far to Go," which feels weird because this is a short album as it is and surely there was an unreleased beat that could have been used for this track instead.

All that said, this is a classic CD, the best of the summer. "Love Jones," "Baby," "Body Movin," "Love," "Jungle Love," "Over the Breaks," "Dime Piece" and "Love Movin" are some of the hottest tracks you'll hear, and you gotta dig Dilla's emcee work on "Won't Do." I wasn't impressed with Dilla's work on the mic on the Jaylib joint Champion Sound, but after hearing this and "F*** the Police," you realize Dilla had potential to be a great emcee. If he had the same dedication to emceeing that he did to beat making he could have been one of the great lyricists. But obviously that wasn't going to happen, Dilla loved the MPC 3000 a lot more than the mic.

All that said, no words are needed to explain this. It's Dilla. He's the best. This album doesn't confirm this, it just re-affirms what Welcome to Detroit and Donuts and his other work already established. Get this, and then be on the lookout for Jay Love Japan and other works in the future. Dilla shines on.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars short, yet supersweet., September 6, 2006

By 

DCtoMI (detroit, MI) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shining (Audio CD)

most expect greatness from anything Dilla touched and this CD is no exception. it's like a big hot bowl of gumbo--so many different tastes and textures leave you warm and satisfied on so many levels. soulful at moments. frenetic at others. but always on something different! this album is a gift--plain and simple. a peek at the evolution of his sound, his talent, his experimentalism and his brilliant mind while he was still among us.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A little hit-and-miss, but when it hits..., December 31, 2006

By 

Patrick G. Varine "Make beats, not war, haha..." (Georgetown, Delaware) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shining (Audio CD)

...it hits hard.

'The Shining' is a little fractured - and who could expect a cohesive effort when your health is so badly affected - but when it comes, it comes correct.

'E=MC2' could get any club up and moving with it's deeeeep bassline and headsmashing beat, and 'Love Jones' exemplifies what I like about Dilla: the willingness to throw two things that shouldn't go together, together.

'Love,' featuring another of my fave MCs, Pharoahe Monch, is a great, great song. It's got that back-in-the-day feeling, with Monch's half-singing, half-rapping, but the beat the roughness with which the chorus comes in ("We must be in looooove") is solidly Dilla.

The centerpiece of the album, in my opinion, is 'Jungle Love,' which for my money features the best beat and the best verse, a smasher from relative newcomer Guilty Simpson ("I don't really care who y'all rollin' with/'Cause a real ***** don't need sponsorship," "I maul y'all like a shoppin' center") and a beat that would peel the paint off your walls. As if the beat itself wasn't rough enough, when the chorus drops in, Dilla adds some sort of speaker-feedback buzz that makes it hit all the harder. Add another killer second verse from MED and you have a song that almost makes me forget how short 'The Shining' is.

There are a few songs that drag a little, but overall this is a very satisfying paragraph in the final chapter of Dilla's posthumous releases.