When one is deejaying, there’s basically three general types of interactions that you’ll have. One is the nice and simple, “Good job” variety. It’s always appreciated, and doesn’t distract from the job at hand. For the sake of brevity, I’m going to group all negative interactions into one group, which range from the request that makes you think, “Have you listened to a single thing I’ve been playing?” to the obnoxious drunk who can’t take a hint and keeps coming back with more inane comments. One rare occasion, you get the third and best kind of interaction - when the music you’re playing actually alerts someone in attendance who is also involved in hip hop and you can actually talk about music and exchange information and all that good stuff. This happened not too long ago in Madison, when a young kid came up to me at Natt Spil and told me he was a producer who just moved to town. He told me he recorded under the name of ILLROY, and I of course was interested to see what he was capable of. It wasn’t until later when I looked him up that I realized that he had worked with Milo on a few tracks on I wish my brother Rob was here. I’m always happy to find up and coming artists from my area, and now with this beat tape, I can safely say that I’ve got another to keep an eye on.

The origins of Dress For Success might have been unintentional, just piecing together a bunch of instrumental tracks he had made over the years, but ILLROY did an excellent job of selecting and sequencing them into a coherent listening experience that doesn’t just sound like a compilation. Coming up with the theme of high fashion to tie everything together was a nice touch, as it presents his beats as clean and classy, which they are. Granted, nobody’s re-inventing the wheel here, but what we do have is a really nice blending of jazz, R&B, samba, funk, and hip hop. The beats are well developed, with great grooves throughout, and an overall sensual tone that makes this record for the grown and sexy. His drums are tight and crisp, while the bass is really warm and subtle, which makes for a really nice combination. There are even a few moments where he goes in unexpected directions, such as the sample of U.N.K.L.E.’s “Rabbit in Your Headlights” featured in “The Burberry Breaks,” but nothing sounds out of place, serving instead to expand his sound ever so slightly as the record continues.

There’s a lot of promise within this beat collection, and combined with his work with Milo, I’m hearing a lot of potential coming from ILLROY. Dress For Success is enjoyable in its own right, and that’s from just collecting beats he’d worked on over the years. I’m excited to see what he’ll deliver in the future as he grows and develops musically, and possibly gives us a full-fledged album.