J Dilla‘s The Diary album was released just last month, but it was a long time in the making. In a new documentary piece by Mass Appeal, the label helps tell the story of how the project together from the musicians that made it happen.
MCA Records decided against the release of The Diary, but it resurfaced after his passing. Mix engineer Dave Cooley explains how Dilla used some crazy software for backing up his drives, and the difficulty it took to get the music off them — the reason for this is because the software company went bust. Once he did get into them, he found all the sessions with so many versions, which then took years for J-Rocc to pick the right takes.
Aside from the technical side, the likes of Snoop Dogg, Bilal, Hi-Tek, Karriem Riggins, Nottz and Bink! talk about Dilla’s legacy and contributing to the LP.
OS REWIND: J Dilla – The Diary [Album Stream]
OS REWIND: J Dilla – The Sickness (feat. Nas) (Prod. by Madlib) [Music Video]