Background
Illa J grew up in a musical family. He is the younger brother of hip hop legend J Dilla, and is the son of Maureen Yancey, a former Opera singer, and a former Jazz bassist.
Illa J grew up in a musical family. He is the younger brother of hip hop legend J Dilla, and is the son of Maureen Yancey, a former Opera singer, and a former Jazz bassist.
He also released a collaborative album as Yancey Boys along with Frank Nitt. Illa J"s second solo album ILLA J LP will come out via Brooklyn based record label Bastard Jazz. The family lived in a house near McDougall and Nevada, on the east side of Detroit.
According to Slum Village founding member T3, before getting into music Illa J"s main focus was basketball.
In 2008, he released his debut album,Yancey Boys on Delicious Vinyl Records. lieutenant is produced entirely by previously unused beats that were made by J Dilla and were left sitting at the offices of Delicious Vinyl over several years.
Stones Throw Records released a digital instrumental version of the album in 2009. In the following year (2010), he quietly released a second European Parliament entitled, 4 Past Midnite.
In the year 2013, he followed with the album Evolution as Slum Village along with rapper T3 and producer Young RJ, and a collaborative album with Frank Nitt, entitled Sunset Boulevard
In 2015 he released ILLA J LP on Bastard Jazz Records.
He is the younger brother of the late Hip-Hop artist J Dilla, and a former member of hip hop group Slum Village.