Is it wrong to state publicly that I’ll pick up any J Dilla release at this point? I realize that everything he would have wanted circulating has probably been released, but the guy was just that good.

This album is something of a mixtape of stuff he did over the course of his career, with 28 short tracks clocking in at just under an hour. And while there are some gems on here, there is also material that is lesser or unrealized.

If this were a living artist, I might be more critical. But these are the expected breaks when combing through a deceased artist’s archives. Also for these reasons, I don’t know if you heard this mix without an awareness of Dilla’s body of work would thoroughly convince you of his genius.

Then again, I start to talk this way, and then a track like “King,” “Digi Dirt,” or “On Stilts” comes on, and I’m like “Of course he was a genius! Are you listening to this? Do you hear how inventive these beats and instrumentals are? Don’t you feel the warmth and soul in his music?” So yeah, this mix has the good and the bad, but for every bit of good that we can unearth, I’m grateful.