Erykah Badu recently talked about her musical connection with the late legendary producer J Dilla on her San Diego stop of her Unfollow Me tour with Yasiin Bey.
Badu and Dilla's musical kinship is well documented — as part of the Soulquarian collective, the two worked together, including on one of her signature hits (and one of Dilla's greatest productions), "Didn't Cha Know" from her landmark 2000 album, Mama's Gun. Badu has regularly sang Dilla's praises, sometimes literally. She does so on "The Healer" where she proclaims, "This one is for Dilla..." over production from Madlib. She's also noted that her otherworldly song from the same album (New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War), "Telephone" was inspired by Dilla's passing.
In an Instagram video posted by Detroit rapper Frank Nitt, Badu talked about Dilla's humble nature, saying he “didn’t talk a lot,” and was “very quiet.”
"He communicated through that music mostly,” she explained. “And he was very organized. Super organized. All of his Coke cans in his refrigerator were turned the same way and in straight lines. He was an engineer, so it was apparent in every phase of his life. He was brilliant and he was generous. And he was merciful. Like, he let a lot of people get away with like, biting his shit. And he was generous because he taught a lot of people how to produce. Great guy, he was just so shy. This is the most important thing, he was sick, but nobody knew. That speaks volumes.”
