The Witzard

" The Unseen (A Detroit Beat Tape) explores the soul and roots of Detroit Hip-Hop production, mirroring the sketchpad-style format of a beat tape. Loosely acting as a prequel to the LA -based All Ears documentary, The Unseen provides rare insights into a scene that has remained distant from the public eye, while giving birth to some of the culture's richest and most influential sounds. The film [provides a] glimpse [into] the hidden and elusive characteristics inherent in a city often depicted in a one-dimensional light." The Unseen (A Detroit Beat Tape) is just as it says, a beat tape-stylized documentary directed and edited by Gus Sutherland with a companion Detroit -centric soundtrack composed and arranged by Ta'Raach and produced by his label collective, LOVETURL along with Passerby . " Ta'Raach is a multi-faceted artist, producer, rapper, painter, and more—originally hailing from Detroit, MI and currently based in Pomona, CA ," according ...

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...

" 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...