PHIFE - "Dear Dilla"

Damn, it's good to hear Phife Dawg back in the studio again, it's really been a while. During his career he worked a lot with the late legend J Dilla, both as part of Tribe Called Quest and as a solo artist ("Ben Dova", "Game Day", "Ya Heard Me", "4 Horsemen", "Thought U Wuz Nice"). In that sense it is fitting that he breaks his musical silence with a tribute to his fallen comrade which he does with the heartfelt "Dear Dilla", written as a letter adressed to Yancey. To get a real Dilla sound, producer and DJ Rasta Root blends a funky KC & The Sunshine Band groove with the drum loop from Slum Village's "Hold Tight" a long with several samples of Jay Dee ad-libs and small parts of classic Dilla productions. Live bass is provided by DETOXXX and V. Rich does a great job performing the melodic keys... All in all, a very ill track that apparantly is the first single from Phife Diggy's upcoming solo album "MUTTYMorphosis". It's about time "Ventilation: Da LP", which definitely was an underrated collection of good music, finally get a follow up. Be sure to head over to Okayplayer (who premiered the song) to read Phife's own thoughts about the making of the song and peep the complete credits!