Dilla
I could write a dissertation on James Dewitt Yancey and his accomplishments, but instead I’ll try to give a quick overview. Okay, first we gotta get the names straight. Dilla was always J.D. but started out professionally as Jon Doe. He later began using Jay Dee, and then made the transition to J-Dilla to avoid any confusion with fellow producer Jermaine Dupri (also known as J.D.). At various times Dilla had called himself both Buddy Lee and Dill Withers. He started making beats using a karaoke machine to make “pause” tapes. In 1992, the great Amp Fiddler (Google him, muthafuckas) taught Dilla how to use an Akai MPC (musical production controller) and he never looked back. He and Phat Kat formed the group 1st Down, with Dilla using the Jon Doe moniker. In 1995, 1st Down got a single deal with Payday for the song “A Day With The Homies.” During the re-recording of this joint at Sound Suite studios, Dilla received a phone call that would change the trajectory of his life.
Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest got wind of his production (tipped off by Amp Fiddler) and was interested in seeing if they could do business. They would later come to an accord that led to Dilla joining Ali Shaheed and Q-Tip in the production squad, The Ummah. Payday would close up shop soon after the 1st Down’s single was released, leaving the group with no home. Around this time, Dilla underwent his second name change to Jay Dee. In 1996, he produced the Yester Years EP for local Detroit group 5 Ela, a group consisting of emcees Thyme, Mudd and D-12’s Proof. He and Proof did a song on that EP called “Funky Cowboys” and would often refer to themselves as such. Also from 1992 - 1996 Dilla and two of his friends from his Conant Garden neighborhood— Baatin and T3, better known as Slum Village—began recording what would become Fan-Tas-Tic Vol. I. He would release two more projects with SV in 2000, the Best Kept Secret lp under the name J-88 and Fan-Tas-Tic Vol.II would feature Pete Rock, Kurupt, Busta Rhymes and three members of the Soulquarian musical collective that Dilla was also a part of (Q-Tip, D'Angelo and Common). After the Vol.II release, Dilla left Slum Village and struck out on his own to pursue a solo career. He released the classic Welcome 2 Detroit through BBE in 2001, the first album where the name “J-Dilla” appears. It featured Detroit personnel such as Big Tone, Elzhi, Beej, Phat Kat, Dwele, Ta'raach and Frank -N- Dank. Dilla collaborated frequently with Frank Nitt and Dankery Harv, producing their 2003 album for MCA Records, 48 Hours. Frank -N-Dank would feature on “Pause" on Welcome and also appeared on “Mc Nasty Filth” off Champion Sound. Champion was Dilla’s joint effort with California producer Madlib as Jaylib. Dilla also introduced his protege Guilty Simpson to the world on this LP, on the song, “Strapped”. Earlier in 2003 Dilla had dropped the original Ruff Draft EP On February 7, 2006, Dilla’s birthday, he released what many think is his opus, the instrumental album Donuts. Three days later, on February 10th, he died. As is customary, Dilla was instantly hailed as the best to have ever done it, and the title “Legend” was attached to his name. People go crazy with this “Legend” and “Icon” shit after someone passes. The difference was that this time it was well-deserved. Dilla was already revered in certain circles while he was alive. We certainly thought he was a superhero. He obviously heard sounds differently than we did. Birds must have sounded like strings and a rumbling dump truck must have sounded like a drum pattern. He was a true original—the rest are just carbon copies and they know it.
After J-Dilla passed, there were a number of tributes, songs and posthumous album releases. He had a handful of official studio full-length releases before he died: Fan-Tas-Tic Vol.I and Fan-Tas-Tic Vol.II (2000) as a member of Slum Village; Best Kept Secret (2000) as a member of SV under the pseudonym J-88, his first solo project; Welcome 2 Detroit (2001); Champion Sound (2003) with Madlib as Jaylib, and his last album, the beautiful instrumental masterpiece Donuts (2006). He had four posthumous studio albums: The Shining (2006), which was completed by Karriem Riggins; Jay Love Japan (2007); Jay Stay Paid (2009); and The Diary (2016), which is an album that he recorded for MCA. It was originally titled Pay Jay and was slated for release in 2001/2002. This album differs from his other works because it’s more rhyme-driven, with the bulk of the production handled by other producers. DJ House Shoes, Waajeed and Karriem Riggins contributed as well as a host of others, including Pete Rock, Hi-Tek and a pre Roc-A-Fella Kanye West. There have been at least ten other compilations and works that bore his name, including the 2007 reissue of Ruff Draft the Rebirth Of Detroit and Dillatroit projects that featured Detroit emcees rhyming over Dilla beats. Although I personally feel that Dilla himself was very underrated as an emcee, it’s his production that gets the glory, and rightfully so. From 1997 to 2000 as a member of The Ummah he contributed to tracks for Da Bush Babees (“Gravity”),
3 M.C.s, Brand New Heavies, Janet Jackson (“Got Til It’s Gone,” which he famously crafted a “Jay Dee’s Revenge” remix after neither he nor The Ummah received credit for producing the original) and more. He was also a member of The Soulquarians, a Hip Hop collective that included Questlove, D’Angelo, Common, Erykah Badu, James Poyser, Bilal, Q-Tip, Mos Def, and Talib Kweli. Members of the group provided the backbone for many gold and platinum albums. Dilla also singlehandedly produced tracks for artists such as The Pharcyde, De La Soul, Steven Spacek, Common, Erykah Badu, ATCQ, and Busta Rhymes. After his death, The James Dewitt Yancey Foundation was established, dedicated to preserving J-Dilla’s memory. There are Dilla Day and Dilla Youth Day celebrations every year in February. His brother Illa J (John Regal) took the torch and ran with it, rhyming, singing, even having a short stint as a member of Slum Village. J-Dilla’s Moog synthesizer and MPC are part of an exhibit in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture. That solidified James Dewitt Yancey as a national treasure and yes, as a legend.
