illa J

photo credit: Dante Marshall

Some may know of J Dilla, some may not. Above is a photo of his younger brother who is creating his own buzz on the hip hop scene. I recently had the opportunity to spend the day working with him as we shot his new promo photos. Without going into detail I must say that this was quite an eventful day. Thank you to all that helped out.

After listening to Illa J’s music I felt a dark, vintage feel would be the best approach. As you can see in the photos It has a little grain a long with a dust and a few scratches in the actual print of the photo. The locations chosen were a simple alley on a rainy day and a local coney island/diner which was my way of keeping the city of Detroit in the photographs with out over doing it. It was T3’s (slum village) idea to add the Range Rover in the shot to give it that classic vibe.

Slum Village:
[The group was formed by three members: rappers Baatin (deceased, 31 July 2009) and T3, plus rapper and producer J Dilla (deceased, 10 February 2006). J Dilla left in 2002 to pursue a solo career with MCA Records. Elzhi joined in his absence, after which Baatin also left due to health complications.]

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