Busta Rhymes Unveils ‘Dillagence II’ Featuring Posthumous D’Angelo Collaboration

Busta Rhymes’ new album, Dillagence II, is a treasure trove of previously unreleased J Dilla beats, but the project holds an even deeper emotional weight thanks to a posthumous feature from the legendary D’Angelo. This rare collaboration serves as a poignant bridge between two of music’s most influential figures, brought to life by Rhymes’ dedication to preserving their artistic contributions.

Rhymes constructed Dillagence II from a massive archive of nearly 300 unreleased beats gifted to him by Dilla before the producer’s passing in 2006. Among these was a specific session Dilla and D’Angelo recorded roughly two decades ago that never saw a formal release. “They started something and it just never got finished,” Busta recently shared with The New York Times. “I love both of them, so I just want to do my part in delivering in that way — not just for the culture, but for them and for all of us.”

The result of that long-lost session is the track “This Woman,” which features a scratch vocal of D’Angelo masterfully interpolating Sister Nancy’s dancehall classic, “Bam Bam.” Even in its raw, scratch-vocal state, D’Angelo’s performance is pristine, floating effortlessly over a signature Dilla groove textured with intricate guitars and marimbas. The song is set to receive an official music video directed by Hype Williams.

Though the two artists were close friends for decades, they never released music together while D’Angelo was alive. Following D’Angelo’s passing last October, Busta released the tribute song “Magic,” reflecting on their first meeting in the studio with A Tribe Called Quest and celebrating the profound impact of D’Angelo’s artistry. “I feel like the Earth shifted when D came to do music,” Busta noted in an interview with Okayplayer. “He was the embodiment of some shit that was a complete balance of what our ancestors created, to where he took it.”

Beyond the D’Angelo collaboration, Dillagence II is a star-studded affair, featuring contributions from Big Sean, Anderson .Paak, Lil Wayne, Common, Ludacris, and Jon Batiste across its 19 tracks.