Rating: NNNN
The first in BBE’s intriguing Beat Generation series, where producers like Pete Rock, ?uestlove and DJ Spinna put together an album of no-pressure, down-home beats, Welcome 2 Detroit spotlights Jay Dee — DJ with Slum Village and producer for Q-Tip, Erykah Badu and D’Angelo — mucking about in his basement.
Jay Dee’s trademark organ-heavy, deeply layered beats remain, but there is nothing here that even remotely sounds like Vivrant Thing. Instead, with a few MC pals beside him, the producer gets behind the drum kit, picks up the bass and guitar and gets into a deep funk, jazz, Brazilian and afrobeat state of mind, rhyming about the Clapper and leaving just enough of the original cut showing to drive beat diggers wild. Funky and fresh.
