James “J Dilla” Yancey was a prodigy—an uncontainable encyclopedia of musical knowledge capable of bending textures, samples, and drum machines at his will to create some of the most astonishing music of his or any era. His inventiveness lives on, from his production work with Janet Jackson and De La Soul to his tenure in the Soulquarians to his final album and magnum opus, 2006's Donuts. Dilla's legacy is a touchstone for those he worked with in his short lifetime as well as for new classes of beat makers, rappers, and jazz musicians. Longtime acolyte Robert Glasper once revealed that at home he’d play a single Dilla beat for an hour, simply because “it feels so good… He’s the producer that makes you change the way you play.”

Though there's seemingly no shortage of unreleased material locked up in his estate, Dilla is back this April in the form of long lost vocal album The Diary, courtesy of Nas and his Mass Appeal imprint. Originally recorded in 2002, The Diary promises to be a treasure trove for Dilla diehards, and album opener “The Introduction” doesn't disappoint. The track feels like a homecoming, with Dilla rapping at full speed over a lopsided beat by Detroit DJ House Shoes (with assistance from Dilla himself, naturally). Though it's his idiosyncratic production that earned him his legacy, Dilla was a clear force behind the mic, too. As he raps serendipitously at one point: “I’ve been observing the game, came to save it now.” It's about time.