Lost J Dilla album The Diary to be released, listen to "The Introduction"

Ben Kaye

February 18, 2016 | 2:00pm ET

Nas appeared a guest on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 Radio show today to announce a brand new release. The upcoming record is not his own, however, but a posthumous album from legendary Detroit rapper J Dilla (via SPIN).

The album in question is Dilla’s long-shelved MCA Records effort The Diary. Though Dilla handled some of the production on the effort, he also brought in Pete Rock, Madlib, Hi-Tek, Supa Dave West, Bink!, House Shoes, Nottz, and Karriem Riggins. Guests on the album included Kenny Wray, Snoop Dogg, and Kokane. Recorded in 2002, the vocal album was not what MCA had anticipated when it signed the beatmaker, leading to him being dropped and the LP locked in the vaults.

“It was probably pretty heartbreaking for him to see this record shelved and it was completely out of his control,” Dilla estate creative director Eothen “Egon” Alapatt told Rolling Stone. “He was dropped. When majors drop artists, they largely do so unceremoniously and there’s usually a lot of blood on the floor. But with Dilla it became really obvious that it had to been at least a bit of a trauma to him, because his reaction to it was, of course, the Ruff Draft record, Jaylib and ultimately a move to California, where he attempted to recalibrate his career. And actually, many would argue he did with the release of Donuts.”