Saturday, November 15, 2008

Illa/Dilla

When word first came that J Dilla's younger brother, Illa J, collected 15 of his older brother's beats for his new album Yancey Boys, I figured it would be a quick "thanks but no thanks." But after a few serious recommendations, and now a few spins, I realize that this album is not your everyday Dilla tribute. This one holds precious weight for a few reasons:

1) Illa had free range on Dilla's old beats from the 90s from Delicious Vinyl, which means a ton of top shelf unreleased Dilla beats you are guaranteed to have never heard before. Nothing recycled here.

2) Illa sounds almost exactly like his brother in voice and flow. This sounds like a brand spankin new Dilla album.


Sounds Like Love is one of the more beautiful unheard Dilla beats, comparable in vibe to his recent joint with Common and D'Angelo So Far To Go. Easily the track of the month. All Good features an unorthodox sampling of Burt Bacharach's The Look of Love.

ILLA J - SOUNDS LIKE LOVE (PROD J DILLA)

ILLA J - ALL GOOD (PROD J DILLA)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wasn't feeling this album when I first got it, but after making the soundtrack to a trip out of town over the weekend, it's pretty damn good! Wish it was an EP or maybe had some more guests 'cause Illa J right now is a limited MC, but his singing mostly is fire and the Dilla beats...sheesh!

DUKES said...

Im pretty into at least half of it for sure.

Anonymous said...

thanks for sharing - these tracks are great. the beats are straight brilliant.

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