The Ruff Craft Mixtape is available in a limited edition release of 100 hand-numbered audiocassette tapes, staying true to the definition of a 'mix tape' as well as representing the work ethic and analogue preferences of J Dilla’s production techniques and grimy sounds. The A side features all the tracks mixed and blended together over 45 minutes, with all the instrumentals left to shine for themselves on the B side.
During early 2008 whilst listening to J Dilla’s Ruff Draft LP in a haze of lingering smoke and half-drained longnecks, the idea for a concept mixtape dedicated to the life and works of the late great J Dilla began to formulate over the remaining hours of the evening.
Now almost a year later, Sydneysiders The Igloo and DJ D*Phy have teamed up to create The Ruff Craft Mixtape, a concept release doubling as a tribute and ode to one of the worlds most talented and respected hip hop producers hailing from Detroit; the late great James Dewitt Yancey, AKA Jay Dilla. Often dubbed as “your favourite producers favourite producer”, Jay Dee has crafted beats for the likes of A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde, Common, Busta Rhymes, De La Soul and Slum Village to name a few, along with countless remixes, solo productions and unreleased beat tapes.
All through the mixtape there is plenty of mentions of keeping an art form pure and staying true to the roots of the music. “Some fucking rappers only kick what’s real/ life’s cheap/ I don’t need to sell out Dill” is a statement of keeping projects like The Ruff Craft Mixtape to an acclaimed underground audience as much as possible.
