After Nas announced it back in February, the J Dilla posthumous album The Diary is out today via Mass Appeal Records. The 16-track project features guest appearances from Nas himself, as well as Snoop Dogg, Bilal and others and is available to download via iTunes.

At the time of the announcement, Nas told Beats 1 Radio's Zane Lowe of JD, “I feel like he was still growing. His [sound] was the one that was still emerging. It was still growing.” Shortly after, a press release shined further light on the project, saying that “The Diary is the final batch of unissued material that Dilla had assembled for release during his lifetime, lending crucial insight into the producer’s prowess and thought process in the period leading up to his break with the major label system.” Tracks like "Gangsta Boogie" and "The Sickness" had been released ahead of the project, with the full offering now available.

“The Estate of James Yancey has revived J Dilla’s longstanding company PayJay as a functioning imprint to release Dilla’s long lost vocal album, The Diary on April 15, in conjunction with Mass Appeal Records," the official statement went on to say. "The Diary was Dilla’s attempt to take advantage of the attention afforded him after his brightest period as a behind-the-scenes-hitmaker and influencer. However, the project stalled and the album was literally shelved, the reels languishing in storage in Detroit as a relocated Dilla began a creative renaissance in Los Angeles.”

Dilla's affect on today's sound and artist's can continued to be heard, with Black Thought recently recalling a story in which The Roots traveled to Detroit in 1998 to try and get a hold of new Dilla beats before anyone else.

Download The Diary now courtesy of iTunes.

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