Illa J Thinks Ye Wouldn’t Be as Big If His Brother J Dilla Were Still Alive

The late J Dilla’s younger brother Illa J sat down with AnecDope to talk about a bunch of topics, including his older brother and his latest self-produced solo album No Traffic. Toward the end of the 42-minute convo, Marco Mello asks Illa if he ever thinks what type of beats Dilla would be making today.

Illa suggests that his brother would “be making some crazy trap beats,” before acknowledging the late producer tried to listen to all types of rap music despite his reputation as a backpack producer. Adding, “Even when I was younger, he would ask me what I was listening to.”

He then says, “If [J Dilla] were still here, music would’ve took a different turn,” before giving his opinion on rapper and producer Ye. “I don’t think Kanye is as big as he is if my brother stayed alive. I’m sorry, Kanye needs seven producers. If you look at the credits, there’s like 20 producers on one track,” Illa said of the Chicago artist.

Ye has shown J Dilla love over the years. In 2013, while appearing in the documentary Our Vinyl Weighs a Ton (This Is Stones Throw Records), Kanye says every artist should make music with the late Detroit producer in mind. “We gotta think, ‘If Dilla was alive, would he like this?’ I have to work on behalf of Dilla.” Adding, “The best respect that we can pay to great artists that have inspired us is to never sell out.”

You can watch the full Illa J interview here.