I also think it's worth mentioning that even if his work isn't your cup of tea, the fact that his musical peers praise him up and down and up and down again (and did so before he died) should give some weight to the argument that he's one of the greats and/or a musical genius. Even if I don't like a particular artist's music, if another artist whose opinion (and music) I respect says someone is great, I defer to them even if the end product doesn't move me.
Also re: "I consider a genius to create a *new* way to organize music or a new way to contextualize music," Dre took it to another level obviously (and I'm a Dre stan so this is *not* a knock on him) but it's pretty well documented that Cold 187um/Above the Law "invented" g-funk before Dre took it and ran w/it. Doesn't make him any less of a genius IMO.
>>I consider a genius to create a *new* way to organize music >or >>a new way to contextualize music. I don't get the sense that >>either artist is like Dre or RZA or Q-Tip or Bomb Squad in >>that they created something so new and iconoclastic that I >>can't unhear it and I don't look at music the same way >again. > >Let's look at "Neo Soul" in movements: > >1ST MOVEMENT / Late 80s, Early 90s >- Soul II Soul >- Omar >- Loose Ends >- Me'Shell Ndegéocello > >2ND MOVEMENT / Mid 90s >- D'Angelo >- Erykah Badu >- Maxwell > >Now JAY DEE comes in being heavily influenced by Pete Rock & >CL Smooth's > The Main Ingredient and Tribe's Midnight Marauders and then >makes beats for >The Pharcyde, De La Soul, Brand New Heavies, and Tribe's new >album Beats Rhymes & Life. >And although they haven't been released yet, has already made >Slum Village Vol. 1 and parts of Vol. 2. > >All of this ^^^ changed what's below. > >3RD MOVEMENT / 2000 >- D'Angelo's Voodoo >- Erykah Badu's Mama's Gun >- Commong LWFC >- Hi-Tek's entire style (see: The Blast) > >I say all that to say that Jay Dee WAS the 3rd movement to Neo >Soul all by himself. >He alone changed how R&B/Soul and Hip Hop were made. Those >albums above don't sound like they do without Jay Dee. >Specifically the drumming, HOW samples are used and flipped, >the type of samples used. >Giving everything a feel of a live drummer. > >So I read these comments about how Jay Dee wasn't a genius or >all that influential, >or that he's not up there with Dre or RZA and I'm confused >because LIKE them, his sound influenced an entire era and had >people trying to copy him. >There was a time where most of the music coming out >underground and on the radio was either BY him or a producer >trying their best to BE him. > >What's that interlude on Pete Rock's Soul Survivor album? >"This cat was literally changing groups." > >And if I may continue, Jay Dee's early sound has a ton of >children: > >- Nicolay (FE's Connected is a love letter to Jay Dee) >- Tall Black Guy >- Georgia Anne Muldrow >- Waajeed >- Dwele >- A Touch Of Jazz >- Stuart Zender >- Potatohead People >- Owusu & Hannibal >- Early Zo! >- Electric Wire Hustle >- Gwen Bunn > >I TOTALLY understand not LIKING the music. >But I feel like there's a lack of understanding of where Jay >Dee fits >and the larger concept of the music he made.