Guilty Simpson is a Detroit MC and one of the few artists J Dilla chose to build an entire album around, a rapper whose commitment to craft and storytelling represents the city’s hip hop underground at its most rigorous. This conversation was recorded in Detroit on what would have been J Dilla’s birthday. This is his full conversation with host Hanif Abdurraqib.
Simpson talks about being in the studio with Dilla, who made beats in headphones while casually holding a conversation, cycling through three or four sequences at once. He explains how he was the last artist Dilla worked with before he passed, how Stones Throw later found lost songs like Take Notice and Stress on his hard drives, and how meeting Dilla at an open mic at Lush Lounge in Hamtramck, through DJ Tony Tone, changed the course of his life within days.
He also breaks down the fierce open mic scene that shaped him, where you couldn’t rap like anybody else and keep the mic the next week, and how House Shoes’ Wednesday nights at St. Andrew’s Hall worked like a history class. He talks about building a Detroit sound out of Scarface and G Rap influences, why he stayed in the city through his mother’s cancer diagnosis even as friends like House Shoes and Black Milk moved away, and pays tribute to Nasaan, the son of his late friend Proof.
CHAPTERS
00:19 – Meeting on Dilla’s Birthday: An Introduction
00:45 – In the Studio With Dilla: Multitasking, Headphones, and Beats in Sequence
02:24 – The Last Artist Dilla Worked With, and the Songs Stones Throw Found After He Passed
05:04 – Dilla the Ghost: House Shoes, St. Andrew’s Hall, and Learning Detroit’s History
09:47 – The Open Mic Scene: Fierce Competition and Finding Your Own Style
11:56 – Meeting Dilla at Lush Lounge and the Phone Call That Changed Everything
15:14 – Building a Detroit Sound: Scarface, G Rap, and World-Building Through Rap
19:04 – Mentorship, Risk, and Staying Protective of the Craft
28:42 – Why Hip Hop’s Storytelling Outlasts Trends
30:31 – Staying in Detroit, His Mother’s Cancer, and a Tribute to Nasaan
Speak On It!