As much as I agree with Luka re: Dilla's postmortem canonisation, listening to an instrumental like this makes me think wow this guy really was special. Something about how the sub-bass here propels this along — and so deep its actually subliminal bass. And how that thumps along miles below those suspended notes, hanging in the air... Bit wanky? Yup. But that but that sense of spaciousness is important in Dilla's pre-Donuts stuff. And I'm trying to dance about architecture here ffs
E.g.
Dilla I suppose is one of the unwitting progenitors of this now insanely popular "lo-fi hip hop instrumental" genre.
I guess you could argue that the reason he was underrated in life was cos his style is so unassuming that it easily becomes a sort of aural wallpaper.
(This is one of my favourite Dilla tunes, with the vocal, but worth listening to the instrumental to appreciate its subtleties.)