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Somehow I missed this – Illa J doing his best Dilla

I remember being astounded at the striking resemblance of J Dilla’s younger brother, John Yancey, to the man himself, when I first saw the video for Dilla’s “Won’t Do” which dropped after his untimely passing. Don’t know how I ever missed this, because this came out in November of last year, but John Yancey put out an album entitled Yancey Brothers, entirely produced by Dilla and emcee’d by himself (as Illa J).

I heard one of the tracks while at a bar a few days ago and kept trying to figure out whether the track was Dilla or not. The production sounded spot on Dilla and even the voice was relatively similar. I asked the bartender what the music was, who in turn asked the DJ, and later slipped me a piece of paper saying ‘Illa J feat. Debi Nova.’

This track is super slick and you should give it a listen if you haven’t already, although I am already obviously way behind on this one. The beat is unquestionably Dilla gold and Illa J has some decent flowing. I always loved Dilla’s flow, he’s just so cool and unpretentious and Illa J delivers a very similar rhyming style.

I’m not so sure how I feel about the concept of Dilla’s brother rapping over Dilla beats. I enjoyed the album but I have yet to make a verdict on the fact that Illa’s flow is very reminiscent of Jay Dee- can’t tell. Does it irk me or doesn’t it?

Go get the whole album and you be the judge. I can’t stop listening to ‘Sounds Like Love’ and the album has some other gems as well. For die-hard Dilla fans the instrumental version of the album is also available.

LISTEN: Illa J - Sounds Like Love (feat. Debi Nova)

And when you get another moment check out John Yancey playing Jay Dee in the “Won’t Do” video.