Black Milk, 'Tronic'

Detroit’s heir apparent to Jay Dilla continues to blaze his own path

By Scott T. Sterling

Metromix

The buzz: Black Milk has quietly emerged from the Detroit hip-hop underground into the number one contender for the city’s new production heavyweight champ. Working with the Slum Village crew upon Dilla’s departure, he’s developed an idiosyncratic sound that found him placing beats for artists like Pharoahe Monch and GZA. His second solo album, “Popular Demand,” heightened his status on the international hip-hop set,                                                                              sending anticipation for this release sky-high.

The verdict: Black Milk skillfully covers a lot of territory on “Tronic,” including trunk-thumping street jams (“Losing Out,” featuring fellow Detroiter Royce Da 5’9”), radio-friendly pop moments (“Without U”) and left-field samples spun into boom-bap gold (“Overdose,” “Bounce”). He’s got more old-school soul than Kanye’s shown in years (“Try”), and there’s even a smooth, “neo-soul” moment called “Tronic Summer,” a trippy instrumental that would make Dilla proud. When it comes time for Nas to record his next album, Black Milk should be at the top of his beat-making list.

Did you know? Among Black Milk’s many credits includes the recently released and freely distributed “Music from the Color Purple” mixtape, where he reconstructs a bevy of Prince samples into rough and rugged hip-hop beats.