Hear the first single now:
https://soundcloud.com/rappcats/jdilla-anthem

Taken from Pitchfork:

Ever since J Dilla's death in 2006, a steady stream of posthumous material has been released, with varying degrees of legitimacy. But this one is particularly huge, and totally legit: The Diary is a lost vocal album Dilla completed in the early 2000s. It's set for release via Dilla's own Pay Jay imprint (which is now managed by his family and estate) this spring. The first single, "Anthem" b/w "Trucks", is available to pre-order now, out on 12" vinyl April 15. Check out the previously unreleased A-side above.

The Diary is a collection of Dilla's raps over production by Madlib, Pete Rock, Nottz, House Shoes, Karriem Riggins, and more. However, both "Anthem" and "Trucks" feature production by Dilla himself.

According to a press release, multi-track masters of both tracks were found on two-inch tape just after Dilla's passing in 2006. They were finished by Dilla collaborator Dave Cooley for this release. The 12" features Dilla's original mix of "Trucks", which includes an extra verse and alternate vocals.

Anthem 12":
01 Anthem
02 Anthem (Instrumental)
03 Anthem (A Cappella)
04 Trucks
05 Trucks (Instrumental)
06 Trucks (Dilla's Original Mix)

Source:
http://pitchfork.com/news/49501-previously-unreleased-j-dilla-album-the-diary-announced-listen-to-new-track-anthem/

(the 'Cars' version I'm assuming)... I always figured it was someone else on production

The leaked version of "Anthem" was produced by Kanye West. It featured a beat that sounded very similar to Jay-Z's "Takeover".

"Trucks" samples Gary Numan's "Cars", and is produced by Dilla.

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/singles/id.4750/title.j-dilla-f-frank-n-dank-we-fd-up

I actually love Dilla on hooks. Especially the smooth R&Bish hooks like "Fall In Love" and "Nag Champa"

This album is bought.

Seriously is the Dilla estate run by DMV employees or something?

sampling issues?

other than "anthem," which would suggest this isn't exactly the MCA album

regardless, i'm looking forward to it.

the tapes.

its not like the album was on a CD in a file cabinet, mixed and mastered ready to go. the shit was scattered and unfinished.

The Rebirth of Detroit album really turned me off from any doctored posthumous works.

I'm surprised that Stones Throw isn't releasing this cause I know PBW talked about it when they had put out the "Ruff Draft" but was waiting on Ma Dukes to get the estate settled; but I guess her new manager of the estate has decided to take it into their own hands instead.

I also remember that Houseshoes said plenty of times that when the "MCA Album" leaked that it wasn't the mastered version and infact it wasn't even the completed version and that it had more songs on it than what leaked, which is why I'm been so hyped about the real version coming out to hear the full length version of the infamous "MCA Album".

hopefully they get this one right, but his estate has proven to be nothing short of incompetent
I've seen lemaonade stands with cup shortages ran better than this

Nm

which I think is at least partly the MCA album, if I remember right

you do realize how much shit has proven itself to not be true about this shit?
not saying whether you're wrong or right, I believe you, but we're just trying to get on the same page
not all of us remember exact tracklistings for albums that don't get released

if it's the album with "No One Knows" produced by Supa Dave West, I had it

the finished/mastered version of the LP.

http://www.bgamers.com/images/8ball.jpg

----------------------

800

still interested for the album but yeah this ain't getting it

*removes pin from grenade*
*runs away from post*

The label is managed by the family and all and has production by 'Shoes on it, so does this mean that things are ok between Shoes and Ma Dukes???

http://metrotimes.com/news/it-s-gotta-be-the-shoes-1.1331918?pgno=2

""Everything is happening on time," he says, anticipating a question that wasn't fully asked. "I couldn't have created this record if my life had gone any other way. This album would not exist if not for my eyes being open to the true nature of a lot of people that I've helped support over the last � God knows how long � turning their backs on me."

Much of the stress he's alluding to is related to his semi-public falling out with J Dilla's mother, Maureen Yancey, a woman with a smile and demeanor sweeter than pie.

Since the death of her son from complications related to lupus, she's come to be viewed by many as the mother figure of Detroit hip hop. And as numerous Dilla tribute shows are staged every year, mostly in February, the month of Dilla's birth in 1974 and his death in 2006, the two people who have taken these benefit-fundraisers to heart the most may be Yancey and House Shoes. They're now officially at odds.

It was Shoes who consistently used to lean on promoters around the world who claimed they were throwing benefit concerts to raise money for the J Dilla Foundation for music education and insisted they fork the money over. Yancey never had the time or energy to track down party organizers online herself. Shoes always made sure people played her honest.

But this year, Yancey told Shoes his help is no longer welcome."

Now, Shoes is my dude, known him since we worked at the old Tel-12 mall back in '92-93, but I've lost touch with him in recent years and me being without a social media account of some sort prevents me from asking him this directly (which I would prefer to do). So, do any of you know if Shoes and Ma Dukes have settled whatever?
---------------------------

I miss Tha D... But I'll never move back there.


R.I.P. Disco D

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=577803

>So, do any of you know if Shoes and Ma
>Dukes have settled whatever?

i'm just messing with you.

i don't know details, but since he was involved in the latest Dilla Day at the crib, i think it's safe to assume that they reached SOME sort of settlement.

not for this really, be kind of hard to since I don't know the details, but in general life livin' type of shit

I'm saying that shit

I've met people like that before and it definitely does not sit very well with me either. If you see his tweets and general attitude he's very abrasive and doesn't seem easy to get along with. However, as a Dilla fan, I have to be thankful for him given the amount of exposure he gave to Jay Dee in his early career. I've never met the man, however, so my judgment stops there.

I asked him if Ma Dukes gave him the word to shut the bootleggers down, which I believe she did, why was he going after niggas on OKP and not the jackleg sellers in Detroit?
seemed easy enough since he lives there and has wolves in the streets and shit, according to him
it was the one time I didn't get raw with a nigga and he thought it best to get raw with me
ever since I gave him the benefit of the doubt and shitted on me again, I've been on some fuck that nigga shoes-not just the nigga houseshoes, but fuck that niggas footwear

liked the Kanye version better.

and thats about it.

what do you care about how many times I post in some shit?

and that Cleveland Jr. avatar that was swiped from somethingawful

Chill until we see a tracklist...Seems plausible that most wont be switched out for Dilla or other producers besides Kanye on We F'D Up. I hope there's a full version of 'Radio' on there or possibly another Dilla croon joint.

So that means we have:

Nottz (Diamonds)
Pete (Remember Remix)
Waajeed? (Wonder if 'Fight Club' gets clipped)
Hi-Tek (Creepin')
Madlib? (The stuff he did wasnt on the leak, but talked about)
Supa Dave West (Nobody Knows - A De La version exists and released awhile back - Doubt they care.)
Questo & Karriem Riggins (Drive Me Wild)
Diary (Bink! - Hope there's another verse somewhere...but i think GZA rocked this shit? I could be really wrong on that one.)
Shoes (He says they exists and Im sure he has the sessions if so)
Several DILLA joints (Something tells me that Dilla prob did his own version for a lot of tracks as well, dude was always tinkering)

Probably missing something, but i think its cool its getting released. Hopefully they leave it alone and all producers get cleared.

co-sign about Radio
I need that released on something

Dilla singing album that was never finished (or a rough from the MCA).

It's had a lot of comments in this post and I don't think I've ever heard it.

Peace,

Nij

It's nice. I always like hearing Dilla sing.

Peace,

Nij

Egon posted a photo of the test pressing.......
https://www.instagram.com/p/BA3MVkwLgTQ/?taken-by=nowagain

Also re-posted/confirmed by House Shoes.....
https://www.instagram.com/p/BA3OBuxn3vK/?taken-by=houseshoes

I'm guessing Summer release if test pressing just arrived. Or maybe Record Store Day, but that might be too quick of a turn around.
Regardless, dope!

like payjay

or as close to "it" as we're going to get. Posts on Rappcats over the last while have been hinting at The Diary release with every one of the singles that has come out. I mean, the chances of getting the full, unaltered, as-was-meant-to-be "MCA" album are pretty slim as it didn't come out at the time, but I think this will be as close as we'll come (besides the bootleg out there.)
Either way its' all good.

Looks like the album with put together/overseen by Egon.

http://www.rappcats.com/j-dilla-the-diary/

The Estate of James Yancey has revived J Dilla’s longstanding company PayJay as a functioning imprint to release Dilla’s long lost vocal album, The Diary on April 15th, in conjunction with Mass Appeal Records. Initially intended for release in 2002, The Diary is the final batch of unissued material that Dilla had assembled for release during his lifetime, lending crucial insight into the producer’s prowess and thought process in the period leading up to his break with the major label system and the extremely fertile period that followed (which encompassed the making of the canonical classics Ruff Draft, Jaylib, and Donuts). The Diary features vocal performances by J Dilla, Snoop Dogg, Bilal, Kokane, Frank and Dank, Nottz and Boogie, over production by Dilla, Madlib, Pete Rock, Hi-tek, Nottz, House Shoes, Supa Dave West, Bink! and Karriem Riggins. The album was announced today in an interview with Nas on Zane Lowe’s show on Beats1 with the never-before-heard song “The Introduction.”

The Diary was Dilla’s attempt to take advantage of the attention afforded him after his brightest period as a behind-the-scenes hit-maker and influencer. However, the project stalled and the album was literally shelved, the reels languishing in storage in Detroit as a relocated Dilla began a creative renaissance in Los Angeles. The Diary in this, its final form, was painstakingly assembled over a ten year period from two-track mixdowns and multi-track masters found in J Dilla’s archives after his death in 2006. The completion of The Diary was overseen by The Estate of James Yancey’s Creative Director Eothen Alapatt, long term general manager of Stones Throw Records and A&R for Donuts and Jaylib, whose previous archival Dilla work includes the expanded Ruff Draft issue from 2008. The Estate of James Yancey is overseen by California’s Probate Court on behalf of Yancey’s four heirs – his mother, Maureen “Madukes” Yancey, his brother John “Illa J” Yancey and his two daughters, Ja’Mya Yancey and Ty-monae Whitlow.

Hoping for unedited Fuck The Police on it.

I'm not on as much so maybe I've missed it over the years, but whenever Dilla and anyone connected to Stones Throw (Egon, PBWolf) is mentioned some folks indicate this is very bad. Why?

__
I don't like the beat anymore because its just a loop. ALC didn't FLIP IT ENOUGH!

Flip it enough? Flip these. Flip off. Go flip some f*cking burgers.(c)Kno

Allied State of the National Electric Beat Treaty Organization (NEBTO)

I'd say this is a good thing.
I think it's good to trust Egon's integrity with this one.

Pretty wild stuff in terms of the legal end and the estate.
Seems like it's been a mess for a long time.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/hear-the-lead-track-from-j-dillas-lost-vocal-album-the-diary-20160218

It explains a lot about the shit storm that is the handling of his music and legacy.. Props to Egon for fighting the good fight all these years.... And without any type of show boating or personal interest in mind...

is really fucn sad

and it's crazy, because hearing Egon talk about him being a real person, i know myself, I have definitely forget that when I "deify" Dilla. James was a man loved, cared for, and sharing experiences with real people who have had to deal with all this legal, emotional, and legacy shit for a decade

I love his steadfast approach to Dilla's musical integrity. Also that story about Stones Throw's edits of Donuts is really interesting and makes me wonder if that same approach could be applied to other Dilla tapes as a means of creating an actual album out of them rather than plain old loops like the Bling47 stuff.

>rather than plain old loops like the Bling47 stuff.

not that there's anything wrong with that. I was just bumping that first Bling47 release today. ('Guitar' is my joint!)

but yeah, I hear you.

http://www.rappcats.com/shop/j-dilla-the-diary/

http://www.factmag.com/2016/02/25/j-dilla-the-diary-vinyl-exclusive/

Earlier this year, it was announced that J Dilla’s long-awaited vocal album The Diary would finally be released on April 15. The album will also be released on vinyl, exclusive to Record Store Day on April 16 via PayJay and Mass Appeal. It will include a 12-page book and a bonus 7″ of track ‘The Ex’ produced by Pete Rock. (That track is also featured on the album proper.)
---
http://i.imgur.com/LDctBHv.gif

Ma, your children are OK. 4.7.49-9.21.09

'Come to your house like a check from Columbia House.' "Give it Up Pt. 2" J Dilla

> a bonus 7″ of track ‘The Ex’ produced by Pete Rock. (That track is also featured on the album proper.)

that's not much of a "bonus" unless it's got an instrumental or something on the flip.

It could be the remix that was on the bootleg but with the 45 craze, it could be just two tracks from the album.
---
http://i.imgur.com/LDctBHv.gif

Ma, your children are OK. 4.7.49-9.21.09

'Come to your house like a check from Columbia House.' "Give it Up Pt. 2" J Dilla

and the other will be some kind of flip or instrumental

here's hoping that instrumental comes on the 7 inch... i love that pete rock joint so much