Watch the Video for Illa J's Gorgeous New Single "Tokyo" [Premiere]
Illa J's John Yancey album is coming out this month.
Last year, Illa J, the younger brother of the late, great J Dilla, hooked up with producer Calvin Valentine for the soulful Home. The album was a bit of a departure; it featured Illa J singing more than rapping. It was also one of the better albums to drop in 2017.
If it worked before; it will work again.
Illa J is again connecting with Calvin Valentine, and on November 30th, the two will release John Yancey, under the Jakarta Records umbrella.
The first single from the album is the gorgeous-sounding “Tokyo.” We have the honor of premiering the video for the track. The video, which was shot by Robert Winter, features beautiful shots of Illa J roaming a city.
In a press release, Illa J spoke about the new album, which was originally called 32. He said:
(This album is) Definitely more personal than all of my projects, nothing specific, but I basical-ly talk about about the ups and downs of all my relationships over the past 10 years, still grieving about my bro, etc. This one is trippy because the first single comes out a day before my 32nd birthday and the original title was 32 because this is a special year to me because my brother died at that age so it had a lot of meaning. But it makes sense that it ended up being called John Yancey because for so long in my career I felt like I was tryna be me and my brother, and I'm finally at peace, like I'm not J Dilla's younger brother Illa J, I'm James younger brother John.
Check out the video for "Tokyo" below. And preorder John Yancey here.