Lord Finesse – Motown State of Mind

If you’re like us, where Motown was a staple in our life growing up, or if you just gained a deep appreciation of fondness for the Motown label, you’ll be interested in this latest release. DJ, rapper, and producer (the true trifecta!) Lord Finesse is back on his grind once again with a new seven disc box set called Motown State of Mind. The Diggin’ In The Crates founder handpicked Motown classics to remix. These reimagined tracks are presented on seven, all black forty fives. Each record will have the original Motown track on one side and the Lord Finesse remix on the other. Tracks like Michael Jackson’s “I Wanna Be Where You Are” sit alongs side Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You” as well as El Debarge’s “I Like It”. But the Underboss does not stop there, putting his well known touch on Switch’s “There’ll Never Be”, Eddie Kendricks “Body Talk”, a Jackson 5 Tribute medley, as well as Willie Hutch’s “Now Is The Time”. On this track, he enlisted the all around renaissance man J-Zone to play the drums on the track. Always in high demand, even during this time, J had this to say about being on the record:

As someone who grew up on my mom’s Motown records, to have my work on a record with a Motown label brings so many chapters of my musical development full circle. To work with people and pillars who’ve been inspiring me for 30+ years doing what I love most is one of the main reasons I’m still in this crazy business. Having my name next to the great Willie Hutch in the credits don’t feel bad either.

This box set picks up from that Motown remixed series a while ago (I still play that Z-Trip Jackson 5 remix) and what we really dig about it is that it’s really a digger’s selection. Finesse is one of the best, whether rapping, DJing, or producing, and it shows here in the tracks he selected. This one is for all of you D.I.T.C. heads who enjoy that music, but also appreciate getting dusty grabbing these selections.