Jaylib is the brainchild of two of the greatest hip-hop producers in hip-hop history: Oxnard, California’s Madlib and the late Jay Dee out of Detroit, Michigan. The album, Champion Sound is somewhat of a concept album in which the idea was to see which producer can out produce the other. On dawgs, they both won this production competition.
The album starts with the intro produced by both Madlib and Dilla; then the rest of the album goes back and forth between the producer/emcee in which, for instance, Mad would do the beat and Jay would rhyme, and the next track would be vice versa. The last two tracks have Madlib producing and spitting on his own track and Dilla doing the same for a track. “Strapped” is one of the dopest tracks on the album, and this post attempts to show why.
On the boards is Madlib the Bad Kid. Traditionally, Madlib is known for his flipping of hard to find samples, usually having a soulful or jazzy sound; however, this track puts Mad in a different light. The strings on the track are straight up sinister on some Alfred-Hitchcock-Attack-of-the-Killer Bee-suspense-thriller type sound. The strings ask to be ripped with some fiery lyrics. What’s dope about how Mad flips the stings is that every four bars the monotony of the strings is broken by a faster, higher-pitched sting piece and then reversed. This helps to emphasize the punches at the end of some of the lines. The drums are dope too. The hi-hat and snare are nice and clean sounding and keep a smooth tempo that is broken up every four bars with almost a double time-like time signature that adds a punch to the end of the forth bars. The reversed bass drum adds a subtle bass sound that suits the beat well. Madlib certainly flexes his production muscles on this joint.
With dope beats, dope rhymes follow. Detroit’s Guilty Simpson uses this Madlib soundscape to solidify that Em is not the only emcee that is killing it for the D. Guilt’s approach to this song is straight forward: be simple. No amped up up-and-comer dropping complex or contemplative lyrics, just a grown man calmly letting the world know he not to be messed with physically (I sit at the end at the movies and let my feet stick out/ Any nigga with a problem gets his teeth chipped out) or lyrically (It’s our year/ There will be no faking/so ya pussy niggas should consider relocation). Guilty’s confidence makes his verse potent, leaving the listener thinking, “why have I not heard of the dude before” and “does he have more?” Unfortunately, he does not have a solo project out yet, but heads are waiting.
This is one of the few song that you will not hear J-Dilla say his coined phrase “turn it up!” It’s s a sign that he’s going to be spitting a bit differently than he usually does. “Strapped” has one of Dilla’s best verses in recent years. In voice alone, one can tell that Jay was not joking with his verse; he was out to show the world that he can rock the mic as hard as any other microphone tough talker or battle lyricist.
“It ain’t the game we play, but the way that we play,” opens his fiery verse. He rips through any doubters of his skills with power-filled lines as if he was directing the verse at someone; but he is quick to proclaim: “fuck sayin names makin them famous.” This slaughtering of wack rappers continues to build throughout his verse as he is on the verge of fulfilling his claim. “I’m one of the greatest alive“ is a statement that is easy to believe, if not after this crazy verse, than after looking at his contribution to hip-hop music.
He truly was (and still is) one of the greatest. “Strapped“ is only one of the dopest song on the Champion Sound album showcasing why Madlib and Dilla are that future of hip-hop. And though Dilla has passed away, look out for a number of Dilla releases and produced songs throughout the rest of the year. And be sure to cop anything that Madlib touches this year also.
RIP Jay Dee
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