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Entirely produced by J Dilla! Finally officially on vinyl.
Some records are steeped in mythology. Frank N Dank’s 48 Hours is just such a recording. Why so few samples from Dilla? Was that MCA’s decision as they didn’t believe they could get clearances? Why did MCA shelve the recording for so long? Where’s the “original version”? There are nearly more questions about this album than cuts on the album. But according to Frank, “contrary to popular belief there was never an 'original version’ of 48 Hours. We started recording songs to sample driven beats of Dilla‘s and we got 80% of the album done and Dilla decided to change the beats to all the songs.”
That’s right, it wasn’t MCA’s legal department, it was Dilla’s creative vision that stripped out the samples. But what about the sample laden “Take Your Clothes Off” and “Off Your Chest” you may ask? Frank interjects, “those were done after the fact.” And why did MCA shelve the project, was this a label afraid to release what the Detroit trio had concocted? Well that doesn’t appear to be the case. According to Nitt turnover in the
A&R department at the time was rapid to the point that no one seemed to know who at MCA was responsible for the project.
This led to a call to then MCA president Jay Boberg who agreed to release Frank N Dank from their deal.
So there you have it. As Freud once said, “sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”. In the case of 48 Hours, it’s one hell of a tasty cigar. 48 Hours is now at last ready for the respect and proper release it has deserved all along, with the complete album as well as a second disc of Dilla’s instrumentals included. As Frank reminds us, “This is the exact version of 48 Hours that we (Frank N Dank & Dilla) turned in to MCA and the way Dilla intended it to be!”
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