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Possibly due to some strange planetary alignment, the long-awaited OutKast soundtrack for Idlewild is set to hit the street on August 22, the same day J Dilla’s no less highly anticipated posthumous release The Shining drops, yet all the advance chatter suggests Jay Dee’s joint is what fans of innovative hiphop are most desperate to hear. The second of two albums (Donuts was the other) Dilla was readying for release at the time of his death in February at the age of 32, The Shining isn’t any half-finished collection of leftovers, but rather an impressively forward-looking and upbeat final blast that suggests the exceptionally talented beat orchestrator may have just been reaching his creative peak. Pretty much every track is a head-turner. In fact, you get so caught up in the inventive production, it may take a couple of spins to fully appreciate the vocal contributions of Busta Rhymes, Black Thought, Common, Pharoahe Monch, Madlib, Dwele and Guilty Simpson. A brilliant final bow.
