Having J Dilla as an older brother would surely be a troubling task for any budding emcee/producer to face, but Jay Dee’s younger Illa J hasn’t let that stop him thus far. The younger Yancy brother recently spoke to AllHipHop.com about his recently released EP 4 Past Mid Nite, which is currently available for purchase via iTunes, and how the project finds him stepping out from under the shadow of Dilla.
“This album we have a sense of direction,” Illa J said. “[We are] kind of stepping away from the box, just on the real, the Dilla box that I was in. [We are] going just a little bit left, but still Hip Hop, still soul.” (AllHipHop.com)
Illa J also talked about working with producer Young RJ on the EP. Yancy says that RJ – who has worked extensively with Slum Village, Black Milk, G-Unit and others – is carrying on the tradition that his older brother upheld throughout his career s a producer.
“He’s a very underrated producer,” he said. “They still don’t realize, this is me saying this as Dilla being my brother. If anybody he was truly passing the torch to, I hate to [say] this, [but] it really would be RJ.” (AllHipHop.com)
Damn you Illa J for using up great dilla beats. May the hiphop gods have mercy.
Your a fkn idiot smh thats the mans Bro!
I cant wait to get this EP, I can imagine how difficult it is to always be under the Late Great Dilla’s shadow, and can appreciate Illa being bold enough to create his on identity, keep it nice and soulful man, I’m a fan of your music.
He’s also very right about Young RJ, I ‘ve been following RJ’s career for a minute, dude is nice. Used to be real hard to differenciate some of Dilla’s beats from Young RJ’s back in the day.
Hit me up if u need beats illa….jay dee, dilla, has been an inspiration for alot of the music I work on…Holla if u need tracks for your LP…http://www.myspace.com//drakeone
Jus picked this up from itunes. Nightmare and Shots are dope tracks. Yancey Boys!