Two blocks away from his Harlem home, 88-Keys sits back and recalls the day Q-Tip introduced him to a little detroiter named Jay-Dee during a Beats, Rhymes and Life recording session. Back in 1994, Dilla hadn’t accomplished much yet, but somehow skillz recognized skillz, and 88 gave him a beat-tape with his beeper number on it…

NB : if you’re from Newark and remember jacking this guy’s backpack in the mid-90’s, you might be the owner of the greatest Dilla beat-tapes collection ever. Unless you recorded some bad boy shit on them or just threw these no-rap tapes away.