"J Dilla Was the Most Creative Producer I Ever Heard": John Salley Talks Signing Slum Village to Their First Deal
Salley attempted to broker a deal for the group but was unsuccessful.
Renaissance man John Salley recently joined the latest episode of Talib Kweli's People's Party. The two discussed his NBA days, music, and more.
During the show, Kweli revealed a little-known fact from Salley's past. After recalling his performance on Salley's BET show in 2000, Kweli pointed out the fact that he shouted out J Dilla. As it turns out, Salley was Dilla's group Slum Village's first-ever manager.
"Slum Village was my first group," he replied. "J Dilla, rest in peace. I thought this was the most creative producer I had ever heard. And he was sampling. I was like, 'I don't even know if people know if they can find the samples he was doing."
Salley attempted to bring the group to a larger market, but it didn't work out as planned. "I brought him to New York," he said, "but they didn't hear it. They signed Digable Planets...I still don't understand any of their songs."
Salley also addressed some long-standing rumors regarding the Detroit Pistons and Michael Jordan. Salley's take went against what viewers recently saw on the Bulls' The Last Dance documentary.
"[Michael] loved everybody," he said. "He hated Bill Lambeer. But no one liked Bill Lambeer at the time...I just started liking the cat like a week ago," he said.