J Dilla died in February 2006, and before he went he gave Busta Rhymes over three hundred unreleased beats. Twenty years later, with the blessing of Dilla’s estate and his mother Ma Dukes, Busta has turned these beats into DILLAGENCE II. The emotional weight of that context is real, but Busta Rhymes is such a fun, ridiculous, affable and boisterous character that you simply can’t attach gloomy weight to anything he’s involved in, and when he opens his mouth it’s an absolute blast. Busta’s bravado is so cartoonishly over the top, with a personality so smiley and entertaining that even when he’s being thuggish it never lands as threatening. DILLAGENCE II is sixty minutes of consistently great beats with one of the most incomparable rappers in hip-hop history over the top, and it feels like a mixtape, a party and a gift to everyone all at once.

After a moving intro from Ma Dukes, the first track is barely over a minute and the second rolls straight in as if it’s just another verse with no gap between tracks and a consistent tempo, rolling forward like a DJ set rather than a hip-hop album with defined singles and skits. Dilla’s production throughout sounds like a time period as much as a distinctive sound, because his influence on every other producer became the style of an era. The beats are sparse rather than overblown and they never have too many elements, but they still sound epic through sheer groove alone. Busta sounds exactly like he did at his peak when he was a guest artist on absolutely everything, but he also sounds like an older statesman of rap, the words spilling out of him with the ease of someone who’s been doing this for thirty years. Nobody manages to overshadow him at any point, which is remarkable given that the guest list includes Anderson .Paak, Common and posthumous vocals from D’Angelo. A terrific reminder of a golden era of big, boisterous hip-hop, and a gift that was well worth the wait.