J Dilla

The Shining, Dilla's first posthumous album, is a bittersweet affair. On one hand, the music is dazzling and nicely encapsulates the various stages of Dilla's career. "Love" and the hauntingly beautiful "So Far So Good," featuring D'Angelo and Common, capture the ethereal soul that defined Dilla's later work, while "Jungle Love" revisits the Kraftwerkian funk that marked the producer's mid-period. Dilla's knack for odd and oftentimes jerky rhythms is evident throughout. But there is a certain melancholy since this album confirms that when Dilla died in February of 2006, the world lost one of music's most talented.