THINK TWICE / E=MC2 by J DILLA

Jay Dee's 'Welcome to Detroit' was the album that kicked off BBE's Beat Generation series. This seminal album (it even has its own Wikipedia entry) cemented Dilla's reputation as a virtuoso beat maker with a remarkable range of talents. For the first time, (from that album) 'Think Twice' appears on a very limited 7" single. It is a cover of Donald Byrd's seminal classic featuring Dwele on vocals... it shows Dilla's supreme versatility behind the boards (and on the mic - it's not the featured Dwele that sings the hook). And from his posthumously relealeased album 'The Shinining' : Common, meanwhile, does the Common thing, which is to ride the beat dumbly (but appropriately) on standout robofunker 'E=MC²,' Despite Kanye boosting his sales numbers, it was Jay Dee who consistently brought out the best emcee in Common, his former roommate, and he proves it again here on 'E=MC².'