While on a trip to Puerto Rico last June for the Puerto Rock Steady Music Festival, J Dilla’s mother Ma Dukes invited Dres to come by the house for a home cooked meal after the show.
Of course, the Black Sheep MC happily obliged. As they broke bread together, she blessed him with a rare, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and opened up Dilla’s vault of unreleased beats.
“I had the chance to go through hundreds and hundreds of folders with the goal of putting a project together,” Dres said in a statement obtained by HipHopDX. “I had only heard a portion of what’s stored away in Dilla’s storied collection, but what I was able to come up with is now nearing completion and cements in audio form how I felt about the opportunity.”
The result is a new collaboration project called No Words, which he’s dropping under the DnD moniker, short for Dres and Dilla.
J Dilla's Uncle Needs Hip Hop's Help To Save Dilla's Delights Donut Shop
Dres talked about the album during a performance with (at least two-thirds of) De La Soul earlier this week.
“I got this project that I’m dropping this spring,” he told the audience. “It’s by DnD. DnD is Dilla and Dres. I got permission from Ma Dukes to go through like 500 folders of music and yo, Jay Dee is like the 2Pac of producers. Some of this stuff is 15 years old that you haven’t heard and it’s so far ahead … I don’t know what it is. It’s crazy. So y’all be on the lookout for this project. DnD. The name of the project is called No Words. Dilla and Dres. This spring.”
Check out Dres’ comments below.
I hope its dope.. but Dilla’s leftover catalog has been exploited. Dude is absolutely one of, if not THE GOAT of hip-hop producers, but not everything he did needs to see the light of day. I hope Dres’ ear, Ma Dukes, and whoever else involved were able to uncover and choose the better beats and that Dres is a good fit for them.
I feel you. Dres has definitely done better when the Native Tongues has a sort of direct influence. Often he let’s his Bronx styles Beat leaning overshadow his projects. I would feel better if De La, Or Q- Tip, or even the Beatnuts acted as filter since Mista Lawnge is not around. His voice and style is still so smooth like Cognac. This project definitely has potential.
“Smooth like cognac” lol
Dude hasn’t put out anything good since his one and only classic album. I have a feeling this is going to be a waste of Dilla’s beats. They should have went with DOOM, Nas, shit… Pharcyde would have been a better call. I’ll still give it a day in court though. I do sense dookie is on the way…
Turrrrible take. Evitan had bangers. 8WM/Novakane had bangers.
Everything Dres has put out had bangers!!! WTF y’all talking about. Smh all these comments are from MF’s who is clueless AF when it comes to real hip hop! Smh
This is what happens when you don’t have a document that expresses what should be done in the event of your passing. To all the producers out there… make sure to have a will. Especially one that addresses what should be done with your production catalog and master recordings. With that said I hope this is amazing. I just don’t get why aren’t acts that Dilla worked with getting this / taking advanatage of this same opportunity?
I think you right bro I was in Detroit from 95 to 2005 working at polygram for a few years before Universal bought them out. I had a few run-ins with Dilla and there’s some dope Detroit groups that he worked with that have that same Dilla Detroit spirit that deserve to shine on Dilla Beats
I’m a skeptic fan! What’s the sense of using Dilla’s beats on these old ass MC’s, that nobody’s checking for..? I smell exploitation… What a way to exploit the GOATS legacy! This is just terrible.. 🙁 Madukes and the Camp should be working with younger doper MC’s who can hold their own on those beats to push the culture forward not backwards. The beats are probably the recycled shit we already heard, yet true Dilla fans know whether not the beats have been heard or not… You can get with this or You can get with that! I cant get with this, cause this is kinda whaaack!