Busta Rhymes revisits his longtime musical connection with J Dilla on a star-studded sequel.

Busta Rhymes gives us the tracklist for Dillagence 2, and it features an impressive lineup that includes D’Angelo, Big Sean, Anderson .Paak, Ludacris, Lil Wayne, Common, Jon Batiste, Talib Kweli, T3, Honey Bxby, Trillian, La Reezy, and more. That combination of artists should give Busta plenty of different personalities to work with while keeping Dilla’s production at the center of the project.

Busta Rhymes and J Dilla’s history goes back further than Stephen A. Smith’s hairline. In all seriousness, their musical history stretches back to the 1990s. Dilla contributed production and remixes throughout Busta’s career, including work connected to projects such as When Disaster Strikes…, Anarchy, Genesis, It Ain’t Safe No More…, and The Big Bang. Their chemistry eventually became the foundation for Dillagence, the 2007 mixtape featuring Busta rhyming over unreleased Dilla production.

Unfortunately, Dilla passed away on February 10, 2006, at just 32 years old. His death came only three days after the release of Donuts, the album that would become one of the most influential instrumental hip-hop projects ever made. Nearly two decades later, his influence remains enormous, with producers and rappers still studying and drawing from his distinctive approach to drums, sampling, and rhythm.

For longtime Busta Rhymes and J Dilla fans, this is a pretty exciting release. The original Dillagence showed how naturally Busta could work over Dilla’s production, and a sequel gives that chemistry another opportunity to shine. More importantly, projects like this keep Dilla’s name and music in the conversation, while giving Busta another platform to deliver the energetic, organic hip-hop that made their original collaborations so memorable.

Quincy

Quincy is the creator of Ratings Game Music. He loves writing about music, taking long walks on beaches, and spaghetti that fights him back.