Approaching the highly anticipated release of J Dilla’s The Diary on April 15, the track “Gangsta Boogie” dropped this week on Dr. Dre’s weekly Beats 1 radio program, The Pharmacy. The track not only features verses from Jay Dee himself, but also guest spots from Snoop Dogg and Kokane. “Gangsta Boogie” welcomes you to the D, then takes you back to the glory days of California g-funk. Also debuted was the album’s opening track, “The Introduction.”
Both songs were premiered by Eothen Alapat (aka Egon) the Now-Again Records head honcho who is also the creative director for The Diary. Though The Diary was completed during Dilla’s lifetime and originally scheduled to drop in 2002, legal disputes with his label MCA prevented the album’s release. The reborn project features production by Hi-Tek. [EDIT: A previous version of this post appeared with production inaccurately credited to J Dilla.]
Listen to “Gangsta Boogie” below and watch an interview with Snoop Dogg after the jump about the collaboration: