New J Dilla bars. Allow me to repeat. New J Dilla bars. That’s what fans receive via a new track titled “Anthem,” featuring Frank-N-Dank, and produced by Jay Dee himself. The track comes after an announcement that the Estate of James Yancey has revived PayJay Productions, Inc., an entity the late, great producer founded in 2001 to house his production and publishing companies.
“Anthem” is the first official single from Dilla Dawg‘s forthcoming long lost vocal album, The Diary. The song comes straight from multi-track masters found on 2″ tape shortly after the Detroit native’s passing in 2006.
Engineer Dave Cooley, who worked extensively with Dilla during his years in Los Angeles, was given the task of mixing the track. Using Dilla’s original demo mixes as his guide, Cooley attempted to finalize Dilla’s vision for “Anthem” without tampering with the elements that “The Light” producer had in place in his original demos.
The Diary is an album of vocal performances recorded between in the early 2000s over production by the likes of Madlib, Pete Rock, Nottz, House Shoes, Karriem Riggins and others. Diehard fans can purchase “Anthem” and another track titled “Trucks” now as a pre-sale at rappcats.com. Both will also be readily available on vinyl early this spring.
Hear “Anthem” below.
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Photo: Johnny Tergo
