Phife Dawg and J.Dilla’s younger brother IIIa J connected with producers Potatohead People for “French Kiss Deux.” They pay tribute to Montreal women with a laidback approach accentuated by the lazy trumpets and the beat that is more suited for slow-dancing. “French Kiss Deux” will appear on Phife Dawg’s posthumous Forever album. It is the second single to premiere from the tracklisting after “Nutshell Part 2” featuring Busta Rhymes and Redman. There is no set date for the release of Forever. 

 

Today would have been J. Dilla’s 47th birthday and it is also the 15th anniversary of Donuts, the album he was working on before he passed. It is well known that Dilla’s dedication to his craft had him working on Donuts from his sickbed. The instrumental album was named after his favorite dessert and was a bittersweet ending that elevated his legend. 

On Friday, the 20th-anniversary edition of his solo album Welcome 2 Detroit was released to the streaming platforms. There are instrumentals and never heard alternate versions of the songs. The producer’s short life is still being felt in his music that continues to astound and cause serious head-nodding 15 years later. Busta Rhymes who worked with Dilla, used one of his beats on his current Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath Of God album. 

This year rapper Frank Nitti who also worked with Dilla hosted the first digital Dilla Fest to celebrate his life. Ma Dukes talks about her son’s childhood love of music and how they recognized his gifts early. There are appearances from Amp Fiddler, Robert Glasper, his brother Illa J, Pete Rock, Guilty Simpson, DJ Rhettmatic, Terrace Martin and T3 of Slum Village. DJ Spinna closes the event with a DJ set. 

J.Dilla’s Welcome 2 Detroit is receiving a 20th-anniversary 7-inch vinyl box set. The BBE release will have 12 records, with unreleased music, studio outtakes, reinterpretations of songs and a booklet. There is commentary from his mother Ma Dukes, mentor and friend Amp Fiddler and others who worked with him. The stories behind Dilla’s debut are unveiled by those who were there. The set comes out on February 5th during the annual month-long Dilla celebration and there will also be a digital version available. The genius producer died in 2006 at the age of 32 after battling a blood disease. However, in the 13-years that he was active, he left a remarkable trail of music created with people like Common, Q-Tip, Erykah Badu, Busta Rhymes, Madlib and others. He founded his hometown group Slum Village and still made time for solo releases. His precision with sounds and deep understanding of drums set a new standard that no hip-hop producer has been able to mimic despite the fact that he is regularly studied by worldwide devotees.  The new box set can be previewed and pre-ordered from online retailers. 

Slum Village’s “Fall In Love” was on the group’s second album, Fantastic Vol. 2. J.Dilla’s work as a producer was brilliant in the ’90s and Slum Village’s second album carried his creative endurance into the 2000s. His background as a drummer translated into his ability to personalize the sound of electronic drums. The kick of his boom-bap styled percussion, gospel and jazz-influenced organ and the trio’s cool unperturbed to rapping enveloped listeners into head-nodding euphoria.  “Fall In Love” felt and sounded down to earth and up in the air at the same time. Fantastic Vol. 2 was so esteemed that Slum Village was encouraged to take over where A Tribe Called Quest left off but none other than Q-Tip who also appeared on “Hold Tight”. The album continues to have a pulse with hip-hop fans 20 years after its release and 14 years after Dilla’s passing. In 2019, Young RJ, who is one-half of Slum Village’s current lineup with T3,  collaborated with The Abstract Orchestra to honor the album with new versions of the songs called Fantastic 2020 Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. 

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