J DILLA “Ruff Draft” VINYL 2LP

Description

When Ruff Draft saw its initial release in 2003, J Dilla possessed production skills on par with anyone in hip-hop technicallyand creatively. At the top of his game, says longtime friend and collaborator, Karriem Riggins. After years of building while
modestly deferring to others of both greater and lesser notoriety, Dilla finally completed the first solo endeavor on his ownlabel, entirely on his own terms. The significance of such an autonomous success often gets overlooked, and partly accountsfor why Ruff Draft is one of the lesser-referenced entries in Dillas oeuvre. Its a mysterious little project, says his mother,Maureen Yancey. But out of his entire career, that was the happiest time.”Prior to recording the EP, Dilla found himself at a crossroads. Estranged from his label, MCA, and separated from the mother
of his youngest daughter, frustration abounded both personally and professionally. Dilla spent parts of 2002 and 2003 workingon 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 MCing by most anyone notfrom his hometown of Detroit. The project was to be an intentional freak of the industry.The project would go on to spur his collaborative album with Madlib, Jaylib, and would first showcase the template that hewould take to his greatest heights with 2006s Donuts. The Stones Throw reissue of Ruff Draft from 2008 featured remixes ofthe songs from the album, done without Dillas involvement. This version of the album takes Dillas recently discovered mixes
of the album and restores his vision for the project. Straight from the mothafuckin cassette, as he phrased the sound hewas going for on the EPs intro. It is buttressed by unreleased tracks and is presented in two versions: LP one is the EP as it
was originally released; LP 2 is the alternate version that Dilla had for the project. Author Ronnie Reese expands upon hisoriginal liner notes to further tell Dillas story, in a booklet complete with never before published photographs from
the Ruff Draft photo session.

The producers own mixes recently rediscovered – ofhis seminal EP, expanded with bonus tracks into a 2LP set,with extensive liner notes and unpublished photos.

Label: Pay Jay Productions