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We’re not going to mince words here: We’re all in hell right now, and 2020 is a year that seems never-ending. No amount of tragedy fatigue will ever make the deaths of local musicians such as Riley Gale and Trini Lopez less devastating. No matter how turbulent this election cycle is, and no matter how high its stakes are, nothing will make the deaths of people like John Prine, Kenny Rogers, Bill Withers, Little Richard, Justin Townes Earle and Simeon Coxe of Silver Apples suck less.
Often, when musicians die, their labels and estates release albums posthumously. This year has seen several albums from late hip-hop artists with posthumous albums coming from Juice WRLD, Mac Miller and Pop Smoke. Locally, this week saw the release of Brad Jordan Jr. almost two years after the passing of its creator, rapper C. Struggs.
Posthumous albums are delicate endeavors. They’re almost always incomplete upon release, and they occasionally come across as joyless cash grabs. But sometimes a posthumous album is executed beautifully and in a way that honors the memory of the artist. Below are eight of the best examples.
J Dilla, The Shining (2006)
Next to Madlib and DJ Shadow, J Dilla is perhaps one of the greatest underground hip-hop producers to come out in the last 30 years. The Detroit hip-hop artist’s magnum opus Donuts just so happened to also be his swan song, as it was released three days before his death in 2006. But, even as he dropped such a lasting album another quality release was just around the corner.
That album was The Shining, and while it was approximately 75% complete before Dilla’s death, it still makes for a hell of a counterpart in its emphasis on guest features, while Donuts was a purely instrumental album. Spitting over Dilla’s beats for The Shining were revered names such as D’Angelo, Busta Rhymes and Black Thought of The Roots fame.
Elliott Smith, From a Basement on the Hill (2004)
From his tenure with Portland indie band Heatmiser to his untimely death in 2003, singer-songwriter Elliott Smith’s professional music career spanned 12 years. Each studio album showed a significant stylistic progression and maturity, but that’s not...