The Witzard

Chicago-bred writer Ronnie Reese has had the unique opportunity to pen a number of Stones Throw on-site press releases – including Mayer Hawthorne, WHITE BOIZ, Myron & E, and Tony Cook – J Dilla's online biography, countless pieces for Wax Poetics, a number of Blue Note re-issues, and Dilla's posthumous 2007 Ruff Draft EP re-issue; although, Reese very well may have just written the single most important pieces of his career... the expansive liner notes for Now-Again's recently assembled compilation of Dilla's long-lost "MCA album," now re-titled THE DIARY . J Dilla's nixed MCA album, otherwise formerly known as "Pay Jay," would have featured outsourced production work from the likes of House Shoes, Nottz, Karriem Riggins, Hi-Tek, Madlib, and Pete Rock and is arguable, as coveted by Hip-Hop heads as a beat-laden version of The Beach Boys' long-fabled and heavily bootlegged SMiLE. I've recently been in contact with Ronnie Reese, whose...

Following an initial batch of emailed conversations around Thanksgiving, former Stones Throw General Manager and Now-Again Records founder Eothen "Egon" Alapatt and I decided to reconvene after the holidays to conduct an all-inclusive interview for this very site, The Witzard; and now, a few months later, it has finally come to fruition. Egon worked closely with J Dilla during his final years and shacked up at the infamous Stones Throw home/studio with Madlib, MF DOOM, Jeff Jank, and Peanut Butter Wolf during the making of MADVILLAINY. Available here in its complete unedited long-form, out full emailed conversation touches on Alapatt's tenure at Stones Throw, Dilla's unreleased food-themed beat CD's, the incomplete "MADVILLAINY 2" sessions, Madlib & Yasiin Bey (Mos Def)'s rumored "Zamrock" project, Biz Markie's notorious record fibbs, and his independent publishing house, Sinecure Books. Feel free to read and repeatedly enjoy our t...