“The idea of a non-radio friendly hip-hop album with a producer rapping over other producers’ beats was unprecedented, but perhaps on par with J Dilla’s restless, innate desire to freak out the industry. Rapping, however, was the one thing that 99 percent of the producer competition couldn’t do. You can bite a producer’s style but, as a producer, can you rap? Most can’t and, as an MC, Dilla was rhythmically one of the best producers on the microphone, treating words the same way he treated musical notes. 

The Diary is undeniably the result of the iconic producer’s singular, unhampered vision, and is finally presented in its original form. ‘I’m just glad that it’s a version coming out that can stand behind his name, besides what the bootleggers have done,’ says Dilla’s mother, Maureen ‘Ma Dukes’ Yancey. For Dilla’s collaborators, friends and family alike, The Diary is the last piece of an enigmatic puzzle.”