The Witzard

Chicago-bred writer Ronnie Reese has had the unique opportunity to pen a number of Stones Throw on-site press releases – including Mayer Hawthorne, WHITE BOIZ, Myron & E, and Tony Cook – J Dilla's online biography, countless pieces for Wax Poetics, a number of Blue Note re-issues, and Dilla's posthumous 2007 Ruff Draft EP re-issue; although, Reese very well may have just written the single most important pieces of his career... the expansive liner notes for Now-Again's recently assembled compilation of Dilla's long-lost "MCA album," now re-titled THE DIARY . J Dilla's nixed MCA album, otherwise formerly known as "Pay Jay," would have featured outsourced production work from the likes of House Shoes, Nottz, Karriem Riggins, Hi-Tek, Madlib, and Pete Rock and is arguable, as coveted by Hip-Hop heads as a beat-laden version of The Beach Boys' long-fabled and heavily bootlegged SMiLE. I've recently been in contact with Ronnie Reese, whose...

" Dilla spent the better part of 2002 working on an album for MCA that featured his rapping over contributions from other producers with whom he had connected and whose music he respected. At the time, he was known primarily for his beats, yet reviled for his [emceeing] by mist anyone not from his hometown of Detroit . The project was to be an intentional freak of the industry," Chicago writer and film-maker Ronnie Reese wrote within his liner notes accompanying Stones Throw 's 2007 expanded re-issue of Ruff Draft EP . J Dilla 's ultimately scrapped and indefinitely shelved '02 MCA Album , or "Pay Jay," as it's long been referred, was recorded between his widely underrated BBE solo debut Welcome 2 Detroit and adventurous stylistic shift that materialized across Ruff Draft EP during his relocation from Detroit to LA . " Dilla had agreed to a one-year contract on MCA with an option for a second, provided he produced two accepted releas...

" Share My Bed = MJ & Dilla 1st track, "Player Has Butterflies" ...wait [for] the rest," read a vague 2009 Stones Throw post. Beat Junkies co-founder and former Black Star & Jaylib DJ J. Rocc has seemingly been working on some sort of unspecified J Dilla/Michael Jackson mash-up project for the past 5+ years. Dilla was a known Jackson (5) super-fan and even sampled "Dancing Machine" for Q-Tip 's solo track "Move" (2008), originally appearing on his Beat CD '05 #3 web-bootleg. I can vaguely remember downloading a copy of my first J Dilla album, Champion Sound with Madlib (2003). It falls right between what I would consider his two greatest works, Ruff Draft EP and his magnum opus, Donuts . Little did I know, at the time, that Dilla's health was slowly failing because of lupus complications and a rare blood disorder; he ultimately passed away on February 10th, 2006. I didn't realize til a few years later, bu...

Pay Jay , quite arguably the "Holy Grail" of unreleased J Dilla material, briefly leaked online a few years ago; The infamous MCA -commissioned vocal album that Dilla recorded with friends-producers ?uestlove & Karriem Riggins , Nottz, Kanye , Pete Rock, Supa Dave West , Hi-Tek, and Bink! [Dawg] . From what I can remember, it featured a pre- "Takeover" Doors ("Five to One") sample flip, a Funky Vanity 6 "Drive Me Wild" cover, and just one previously released track - " Fuck The Police." Thankfully, Maureen "Ma Dukes" Yancey recently re-gained the rights to a storage locker full of old DAT and 2-inch tape masters, which were obviously used to re-mix/master the 11+ tracks. Pay Jay Productions plans to release The Diary sometime during 2013-14 and it's material represents the unknown period in-between J Dilla 's self-produced Rap albums, Welcome 2 Detroit and Ruff Draft EP (2001-02). Standout track ...