Jay Stay Paid is an album from the late hip hop musician J Dilla

J Dilla

James Dewitt Yancey , better known by the stage names J Dilla and Jay Dee, was an American record producer who emerged from the mid-1990s underground hip hop scene in Detroit, Michigan...

, mixed like a radio show by Pete Rock

Pete Rock

Peter Phillips , better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapper. He rose to prominence in the early 1990s as one half of the critically acclaimed group Pete Rock & CL Smooth...

. It is a posthumous album, but is his fourth album overall. It was released June 2, 2009 on Nature Sounds

Nature Sounds

Nature Sounds is a record label based in Brooklyn, New York, specializing in hip hop and reggae music.-Discography:*Ayatollah - Fingertips *Ayatollah - Live From The MPC 60 *Ayatollah - Cocoon...

. Despite the fact that the album has contributing vocals from several artists, it is roughly classified as an instrumental hip hop album.

Background

The album is a 28 track collection of unreleased Dilla beats mixed and arranged by Pete Rock. Although Jay Stay Paid is mostly instrumental, it includes guests vocals from several artists that Dilla worked with or admired, such as Black Thought

Black Thought

Tariq Trotter , better known as Black Thought, is an American hip-hop artist who is the lead MC of the Philadelphia-based hip hop group The Roots and occasional actor...

, Havoc, Raekwon

Raekwon

Corey Woods , better known by the stage name Raekwon, is an American rapper and a member of the Wu-Tang Clan. He released his solo debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... in 1995, and has since recorded four solo albums, as well as work with Wu-Tang and an extensive amount of guest contributions with...

, MF DOOM

MF Doom

Daniel Dumile is a hip hop artist who has taken on several stage names in his career, most notably MF DOOM, where the "MF" stands for metal face, and for tracks he has produced, metal fingers...

, and M.O.P.

M.O.P.

M.O.P., short for Mash Out Posse, is an American hip hop duo. The duo, composed of Billy Danze and Lil' Fame, is known for the aggressive delivery typically employed by both emcees. Although they maintain a strong underground following, they are mainly known for the song "Ante Up," released on...

 It was executive produced by Dilla’s mother Maureen "Ma Dukes" Yancey along with the musical supervision of Dilla’s musical idol, Pete Rock. In regard to the album's feel and direction Ma Dukes stated:
Art Direction and illustrations for Jay Stay Paid were contributed by world renowned graphic artist Mike Orduna (Fatoe) for Fatoe.com.

In promotion for the album, the Beat Junkies

Beat Junkies

The World Famous Beat Junkies is a Hip hop crew of DJs specializing in Turntablism. Established in 1992 in Orange County, California by J-Rocc....

 released a free sampler of the album.

The format of the album plays like a radio show with Pete Rock as the program director. With regards to Pete’s involvement, Ms. Yancey gets very excited, “Dilla wanted to pattern himself behind Pete. His dream was to become as close as possible to what Pete stood for. Pete meant everything to him. Dilla would have just been flabbergasted! ” Pete’s sentiments were the same toward Dilla, “Dude was amazing. He just kinda came outta nowhere and the more you heard his beats the better they got. He may not be here with us, but it’s all good we’re going to keep his music alive and well.”

In the 90s, Dilla founded the seminal rap group Slum Village

Slum Village

Slum Village was a hip hop group from Conant Gardens, Detroit, Michigan.The group was formed by three members: rappers Baatin and T3, plus rapper and producer J Dilla . J Dilla left in 2002 to pursue a solo career with MCA Records...

 and put Detroit hip-hop on the map, while also playing a major role in the production team The Ummah with Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad doing extensive work on Tribe Called Quest’s last two albums.

The album debuted at the No. 96 on the Billboard charts with a total of 5,400 copies sold in its first week.

In July 2009 video director Derek Pike

Derek Pike

Derek Pike is a 23 year old American music video director and photographer. He is of half British and half Japanese-American descent. In May 2010 Derek graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts where he majored in Film and Television...

 shot a video for the single "24k rap" featuring Havoc and Raekwon.

Tracklisting

#	Title	Featuring	Time
1	KJay FM Dedication	Pete Rock Pete Rock Peter Phillips , better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapper. He rose to prominence in the early 1990s as one half of the critically acclaimed group Pete Rock & CL Smooth...	0:56
2	King		1:28
3	I Told Yall		2:49
4	Lazer Gunne Funke		1:21
5	In The Night(Owl N Out / While You Slept(I Crept)		2:00
6	Smoke	Blu Blu (rapper) Johnson Barnes , better known by the stage name Blu, is an American rapper and producer from Los Angeles, California. He is best known for his debut album, Below the Heavens, which was produced entirely by Exile of Emanon....	2:09
7	Blood Sport	Lil' Fame	2:58
8	CaDILLAc		2:01
9	Expensive Whip		1:25
10	Kaklow (Jump On It)		0:56
11	Digi Dirt	Phat Kat Phat Kat Phat Kat , is a rapper from the east side of Detroit, Michigan. His career began in the mid 90's as part of 1st Down, which consisted of Phat Kat on vocals and Jay Dee on production...	0:54
12	Dilla Bot Vs. The Hybrid	Danny Brown & Constantine	2:24
13	Milk Money		1:27
14	Spacecowboy Vs. Bobble Head		2:38
15	Reality Check	Black Thought Black Thought Tariq Trotter , better known as Black Thought, is an American hip-hop artist who is the lead MC of the Philadelphia-based hip hop group The Roots and occasional actor...	2:40
16	On Stilts		1:26
17	Fire Wood Drumstix	DOOM MF Doom Daniel Dumile is a hip hop artist who has taken on several stage names in his career, most notably MF DOOM, where the "MF" stands for metal face, and for tracks he has produced, metal fingers...	1:31
18	Glamour Sho75 (09)		3:02
19	10,000 Watts		1:42
20	9th Caller		1:53
21	Make It Fast (Unadulterated Mix)	Diz Gibran	5:01
22	24K Rap	Havoc & Raekwon Raekwon Corey Woods , better known by the stage name Raekwon, is an American rapper and a member of the Wu-Tang Clan. He released his solo debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... in 1995, and has since recorded four solo albums, as well as work with Wu-Tang and an extensive amount of guest contributions with...	4:22
23	Big City		1:02
24	Pay Day	Frank Nitty of Frank n Dank Frank n Dank Frank n Dank are an American hip hop group from Detroit, Michigan. They also go by the names Frank Nitt previously known as Frank Nitty and Dankery Harv. They are mainly known for their many collaborations with the late J Dilla...	1:25
25	See That Boy Fly	Illa J & Cue D	3:44
26	Coming Back		1:13
27	Mythsysizer		1:44
28	KJay & We Out	Pete Rock Pete Rock Peter Phillips , better known by his stage name Pete Rock, is an American record producer, DJ and rapper. He rose to prominence in the early 1990s as one half of the critically acclaimed group Pete Rock & CL Smooth...	1:58
29	Make It Fast(Vinyl Bonus Track)	Bun B Bun B Bernard Freeman better known by his stage name Bun B, is an American rapper and was one half of the southern hip hop duo UGK . He is also a guest lecturer at Rice University located in Houston, Texas...  & Termanology Termanology Daniel Carrillo , better known as Termanology is a rapper from Lawrence, Massachusetts. He first came to wide attention with the 2006 single "Watch How It Go Down". A solo album, Politics As Usual, was released in 2008...	2:48

External links

• Official site