What did we tell you? Just a day after what would have been the late, great J. Dilla’s 39th birthday, we receive a project commemorating the Detroit MC/producer’s legacy from a talented beatsmith in his own right, Illmind (stylized !llmind). Simply titled Happy B-Day J Dilla, the “FreEP” contains four instrumentals that are “!nspired by one of the greatest.”
If you’re questioning whether Illmind is qualified to drop a project paying homage to Dilla Dawg, you must not know his background. Having participated in Beat Society with the likes of Kanye West and Just Blaze, the New Jersey producer found his niche servicing underground acts like Skyzoo, Little Brother, Sean Price and more. Illmind’s mainstream range has also been displayed on works like “The Morning” from G.O.O.D. Music’s Cruel Summer.
Illmind drafted a short statement explaining the reasoning behind the project:
J Dilla, what more can I say about the man that hasn’t been said already. He’s one of the greatest. When I started messing with beat making in the late 90’s, he was the one producer I studied. I still study him, to this day. During a time period of about 5 years, I was in “beat-making-boot-camp”, or “5 beats a day for 3 summers” as Kanye would say. I trained my ear and was inspired by Dilla the whole time. This is a collection of 4 beats (out of thousands) that I made during that time period. I hope you enjoy! Rest in power J Dilla. Forever. – !llmind
Download Happy B-Day J Dilla below.
DOWNLOAD: !llmind – Happy B-Day J Dilla (FreEP)
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Photo: Red Bull
