Delicious Vinyl Records, the label that helped late producer J Dilla get his start in the game, will be releasing an album from Dilla‘s brother Illa J [click to read]. The 21-year-old younger brother of the late producer has relocated to Los Angeles from Detroit after Dilla‘s death. Since the move, Illa J has used his brothers equipment to create a studio called Yancey Boys Studio. There, using unreleased beats from Dilla, Illa J has crafted an album of his brother’s beats and his own signing and rapping.
“From ’95 through ’98 Jay Dee was my go-to guy for hot beats and
remixes. He was always making beats, always. So there was a select
amount of tracks that he composed for me during that time, only they
never got used. When I finally met Illa J last year, I gave him a CD
containing those unreleased beats,” said Mike Ross, founder of Delicious Vinyl.
Illa J adds, “Dilla was 12 years older than me. So back in the
day in Detroit, I was just a little kid, sitting on the stairs in our
house, watching him make those first beats for Slum Village. So I
always felt my brother’s tracks and had an instinct for what I wanted
to do over them.”
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To Ross, who released classic records from Young MC, Tone-Loc and Masta Ace, the Yancey family is simply musical. “Illa J can write, sing, play and rap. Not just a little bit of each –
he’s really the complete package! And anyone who loves Jay Dee‘s music
is going to flip out when they hear what his younger brother’s been
laying down. For over a decade these beats have been waiting in the
vault for this moment. It’s like Jay Dee made these tracks with an
extrasensory purpose, so that Illa J could make this album. There is no
question that this is exactly what they were meant for. These beats
belong to Illa J, they’re his birthright, and I really believe Jay Dee
would be proud of what his brother is doing.“
The album has yet to be given a title or release date.
