Released: February 27, 2001
So, if you don't know, I spent 2 weeks of the Summer in Màlaga, Spain. Not that it has anything to do with today's album topic, but it's good to be back home in England, where I don't have to procrastinate on whether to start on a review on a certain date, especially considering I've been busy for them 2 weeks that I had to rush the Common review.
But, anyway, I'm here, so let's get this on the road.
J Dilla (Jay Dee) aka one of my favourite producers was already getting off the success of Slum Village's debut album, Fantastic, Vol. 2. With the album's release and the singles getting recognition, this caused many artists wanting to collaborate with him, especially considering his major production on Like Water For Chocolate. Through the recognition and success, he released a song called "F*** The Police", which had Dilla focusing on the corrupt policemen, doing illegal searches and planting evidence on blacks, and was influenced not only by the Detroit community, but also the innocent situations he'd unexpectedly got himself in to. Especially with most seeing what the police are capable of (considering that it has been exposed more often now), it became known as one of Dilla's well-known songs as an MC. Not only that, but later on, released an album with independent British label BBE to start the label's series, "Beat Generation" (which would release albums like the classic PeteStrumentals from Pete Rock and Madlib's WLIB AM: King of the Wigflip). That album would be his debut: Welcome 2 Detroit.
Released in Late February 2001 on BBE and preceded by the popular "F*** The Police", Welcome 2 Detroit is his debut album that, as the title suggests, showcases the talent of Dilla's hometown, with 16 tracks on the album. Dilla, not only takes chances to rap and sing, but bombards the album with features, such as a pre-Slum Village Elzhi, a young Dwele who, at that time, released his demo (Rize) and got recognition from Dilla and S Villa (Slum Village, if you didn't get it), his longtime friend, Phat Kat, and Frank-N-Dank. This also showed Dilla at his experimental self, bringing various moods, whether it's hardcore or wavey and laidback, running at nearly 45 minutes. Not only that, seeing from the cover, this was the first time he called himself J Dilla, as from the start of his career to the album's release, he was known as Jay Dee.
I think that's all I can say about this for the intro because obviously, there's no clue on how much it sold and if it got praise. So, let's just get this started...
1. Welcome 2 Detroit
Just a rap album intro, which is actually very suiting, considering that Dilla spits a few bars. It's nothing special honestly
2. Y'all Ain't Ready
This is just really a short song where Dilla spits a few bars. Just another one to fit us into the album.
3. Think Twice (Feat. Dwele)
Dilla does a cover of the Donald Byrd classic, "Think Twice" with a younger Dwele on the bass. Many mistake Dilla's singing for Dwele, considering the fact that Dilla is more of a producer/rapper than an actual singer. Then again, they're the ones who forget that Dilla sang the hook on Common's "Nag Champa (Afrodisiac for the World)". But I understand why they'd assume it's Dwele, considering that Dwele's voice is a soft flow and Dilla doesn't normally sing. Anyway, I really like the cover. It just features Dilla singing while the rest is just instrumental with Dwele on the bass. This is pretty good.
4. The Clapper
More of an interlude, which has Dilla rapping over a funky beat from Karriem Riggins (and interpolating the popular Clapper commercial), only to be interrupted by a rapper called Blu [and judging from the flow, it's not that Blu from Blu & Exile, considering that Blu is from LA and didn't come out till around 2007]. It's pretty good, and is a standout, but there's not much to be said, apart from noticing that the ending was sampled on Little Brother's "For You".
5. Come Get It (Feat. Elzhi)
Before Elzhi aka Detroit's Best Kept Secret replaced J Dilla as the third member of Slum Village (because Dilla left to pursue a solo career), he was a youngin who made his demo EP Out of Focus in 1998 (but was never officially released). Here, Dilla lets El take the mic, showing people what he's made of for the first time, and today, it's a freaking good ass song, and I love it. This remains one of the best songs Elzhi has ever recorded, and later being with Slum Village, which would make the group take a mature step, would be also a good thing. My favourite on the album.
6. Pause (Feat. Frank-N-Dank)
This is another song where Dilla sits down for another person to take the mic. But it's not just one, it's two: Frank-N-Dank, on a hardcore ass song, which doesn't disappoint at all. Frank takes the cake for the best verse, and I love the flows that are present on the song, and the beat is just... *squint face* OOOH! Fire *insert fire emojis*.
7. BBE (Big Booty Express)
Named after the label this album was released on, but with a different meaning, J Dilla makes an instrumental track, which is pretty experimental, considering he mixes hip-hop with electronic music, creating a spacey and laidback track. This is pretty good.
8. Beej-N-Dem, Pt. 2
On Slum Village's bootlegged album Fan-Tas-Tic, Vol. 1, there's a song called "Beej-N-Dem", which runs for 2 minutes, and is more like a short song. So for those wondering why there's a part 2, Part 1 can be found on Vol. 1. You get that now? Good. Because Dilla now does the sequel, where he gets some guy called Beej to rap on the beat with him, instead of T3 & Baatin. That doesn't make it a bad thing though, because both Beej & Dilla killed it. I'm just saying that it'd be a complete track if they got SV on it, with Dilla and Beej. It'd sound like an SV cut where everyone would kill it.
9. Brazilian Groove (EWF)
Here, Dilla does a smooth ass cover of Earth, Wind & Fire's "Brazilian Rhyme", hence the EWF abbreviation in the brackets, and the way Dilla flips that song is just awesome. The first time hearing it, I sneezed while saying "OH MY GOD!". It was that hot, and it kinda reminds me of a Neptunes beat, but smoothed by Dilla. I never thought an interlude cover would be a standout, goddamnit! Just a minute and 30 seconds of pure heaven!
10. It's Like That (Feat. Hodge Podge [Big Tone] and Lacks [Ta'Raach])
So with Dilla out of the picture to rhyme, some guys called Hodge Podge & Lacks come on this standout, and actually impresses me. Hodge weirdly reminds me of Elzhi with the voice he has, while Lacks kinda sounds like Bun B. And speaking of such, El & Bun would be a good collaboration. But I digress, this shit's hot as heck.
11. Give It Up
Dilla pretty much spits a one verse wonder, with no beat break or any necessary chorus, showing himself at his finest, like no other. And like I said before a few times on this blog, Dilla is capable of rapping, and is fire on the mic, while the beat is very decent for one. Still like it.
12. Rico Suave Bossa Nova
This one is more of a Brazilian-vibe instrumental, and this is how you know Dilla was the man here under nearly 1 and a half minutes.
13. Featuring Phat Kat
The title just says it all. Longtime friend Phat Kat is on and takes over from Dilla to spit some hot fire on a gritty and slowed down beat, while the hook shows Dilla doing some DJ Premier-esque scratches. With the album being released in 2001, this sounds like a song that was out in 1996, '99 or something, especially when songs in 2001 were supposed to be more upbeat. But damn, this shit is awesome.
14. Shake It Down
OOOOH, this one is good, and has Dilla at a soft but hardcore flow, as he continues the 2U4U vibe that SV always does in their song post-Vol. 2. I really liked Dilla here, his rhymes were good, and his flow was on point and made this song ill as heck. I mean, the instrumental is freaking hot as well, and how I can vibe to this song multiple times makes this amazing. It's actually one of my top 5 Dilla songs. It doesn't get the praise that other songs like "So Far To Go" and "Won't Do" does, but it deserves that, especially when Dilla flipped such a sample.
15. African Rhythms
Just a funky instrumental... the speech is interesting though.
16. One
And so it ends with what I'd call a "shoutro" [an ending track where the artist give shoutouts to artists] , but I like J Dilla shoutouts as if he's rapping (well, most people shoutout on beat, but not like Dilla). Heck, he even shouts out NSYNC, as if a collaboration between them was gonna happen. The shoutro kinda reminds me of Tribe, and how they'd do a funky shoutro at the end of a track.
So, about Welcome 2 Detroit, it's actually a pretty decent album that features Dilla getting Detroit artists together, while he also raps on some songs, and comes out pretty good. I always wondered why it never got the praise that an album like Donuts did, and I kinda know why. Here, there's some filler, and for something that is supposed to kick off a certain series, it's very understandable that there's a few instrumentals on it. Anyway, Dilla kicks off at his most experimental (there were rumors that this was to be a breakbeat LP, until the label said he could do whatever he wanted to), with Dilla doing something more hardcore and smoother than usual, while staying true to his trademark style. And while having criticism for his "not-that-good" rhymes, he still ain't scared of rhyming for a few minutes, and at times, succeeds to impress the listener. And while he was still fire on the mic on Fantastic, Vol. 2, I feel that here, Dilla was improving a little on his rhymes, and also was mastering his flows and voice. If, like Black Milk would later do, Dilla was more serious with his rapping, it'd be awesome, considering that rapping producers were rare at the time unless producers felt like doing a verse. With 16 tracks leading up to 40 minutes, you'd wish it was a little longer, and Dilla would at least squeeze a SV track where Dilla, T3 & Baatin all do their thing on this album. Oh well, I still like this the way it is, especially when people like Elzhi, Phat Kat and Frank-N-Dank are standouts on the album. Buy it NOW! This is pretty good, and is one of Dilla's most underrated projects yet. Apart from "Think Twice" (which has over 200k views), most of the songs off the album haven't even got to the 100k view limit, unlike most of the beats from Donuts & The Shining. That's how much I want this to get some more recognition. It's not the best off the Beat Generation series because PeteStrumentals takes that title, but it is a highlight from it as we'll remember Dilla for his music. The legacy still lives on...
The Furious 5ive
Come Get It
Think Twice
Brazilian Groove (EWF)
Pause
Shake It Down
Honourable Mentions
Featuring Phat Kat
It's Like That
Give It Up
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