On February 10, 2006, one of the greatest producers of our time passed away due to liver complications: James Yancey better know as Jay Dee. However, to post up on one of his many classic joints would not do him justice. This will not be a news article about what his cause of death, nor will it be a biography of his legacy. Instead, this post is a small personal tribute to greatness and a means of introducing people to the genius named J-Dilla.
Back in winter of 2000, my rhyme partner put me up on a group out of Detroit by only playing me an instrumental interlude found in the middle of the album. I asked who this group was, and he told me Slum Village and told me that this cat Jay Dilla is their producer. On the strength of the interlude, I went out and bought SV’s second LP Fantastic, Vol.2. That album got so many spins over the next 2 years, it was almost ridiculous. Truthfully, the lyrics on the album are average, but the production on the albums is so insane that the album gets better with every listen - a definite classic. The thing that made Jay Dee’s production so distinct was the smooth melody of his instruments, the subtle, yet soothing basslines, and of course, his legendary drums. The hi-hats never over power any of the other instruments or sounds, the bass drum thumps with authority, while that snare crackles like the thunder from the mallet of Thor. His style of instrumentation is god-like, receiving so many praises from fans and other musical artist that his MPC could be an acronym for Might Possibly be Christ. Seriously, Jay Dee’s production is extraordinary.
To my surprise, I came to find out that Dilla is the production genius behind the majority of tracks from A Tribe Called Quest, and a number of tracks by Common, D’Angelo, Busta Rhymes, De La Soul, Q-Tip, Erykah Badu, The Pharcyde, and others. Unfortunately, since Dilla was never on a major label, most people heard the name Jay Dee and thought Jermaine Dupri, who also goes by the name JD. This goes to show that hip-hop music is being held together by those in the independent field and people in the mainstream (or better yet, listen to the mainstream) have no clue as to the importance and dominance of the independent realm.
In 2001, J-Dilla “left” Slum Village to pursue a solo career, focusing more on production that rhyming; but he still showed his mic skills at every given opportunity. His first solo effort Welcome to Detroit was released as part of the Beat Generation Series by BBE (Bearly Breaking Even). The album completely featured J-Dilla’s diversity in production, from a Latin jazz to pure boom-bap, as well as his and others skills on the mic. The only problem with the album is that it is only 44 minutes long, so when the last song ends, you are hungry for more. After this album Dilla released a number of instrumental albums and an EP (The Ruff Draft EP) independently. Unfortunately, these albums did not see proper promotion and were initial release only as vinyl, so only the die hard fans that searched for the albums were able to get it. Similarly, Slum Village’s first album, Fantastic, Vol.1, originally was not officially released, only bootleg copies could be obtained. (Recently, Fantastic, Vol.1 has been re-mastered and officially released with artwork; a classic album that should be copped by any fan of Slum Village, J-Dilla, Native Tongues, or the Ummah).
Most recently, Jay Dee got connected with Mr. Loopdigga, Madlib. To make a long story short, the two came together on some passing back and forth beat cd’s type tip. Eventually, they decided top record vocals over each other’s beats with eventually became the fiery awesome album Champion Sound by Jaylib. This collaborative album reminds me of two competitive brothers trying to out do each other. The idea behind the album was for Madlib and Jay Dee to go track-for-track and try to out produce each other. The rhymes on the album are not as awesome as the production, but they are nice enough to keep fans listening, especially from the guest appearances like Guilty Simpson for Detroit. The production on this album again shows Jay, as well as Madlib, in a new light. The production showed their ability to create complex and full instrumental that raises the bar as to what hip-hop production should be: the beats should be so strong that they can be listened to without lyrics over them and not lose any of the strength of the track, but not so produced that the beat out shines the emcee. This album, if the mainstream was not so tight to break though, could have had a strong mainstream reception based on both great production and simple lyrics.
Soon after, Dilla did a couple of dope tracks with Slum Village on the Detroit Deli album. On of the tracks, The Reunion, Dilla proves, and silences the rumors, that he is sill down with SV. The son was like the prodigal son story, leaving many Slum fans happy that he confirmed that he was still down with the crew even through he is doing his solo thing. Besides this project, Dilla did a few other projects, but for the most part he was silent. Soon after there were rumors of Dilla being in a comma, but he was actually just being hospitalized for some illness. While being hospitalized, to my understanding, Jay Dee was working on his next two musical endeavors: Donuts, which is an instrumental masterpiece that was released this passed week on Stones Throw, and his sequel to Welcome to Detroit on BBE, The Shining, which will be released later on this year.
And so here we are, with one less person in hip-hop that was a pivotal to the music. How will James Yancey’s dead affect hip-hop music, predictions could be made but that would be unfair to the fans and the culture to think about this reality. Eventually, we might ask the question what would rap music be like if Dilla was still here, but I do not want to see the situation that would prompt that question. Instead, I will bump Dilla’s music more so than ever in his memory, and promote his legacy to those who do not know about him. He will be greatly missed, but never will he be forgotten. And on the strength that Dilla loved donuts, even to the point that he named his last album J-Dilla Donuts, I’m going to Dunkin’ Donuts and copping some donuts and eat them in his memory. So go out, get some donuts, and try to listen to some of Dilla’s music, a little from his SV era, some from his Stones Throw era, and some in between. It will be worth it. R.I.P.- Jay Dee aka J-Dilla Dawg; James Yancey. Peace.
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February 12th, 2006 at 2:38 am
Brother Mute, I appreciate your acknowledgement of J-Dilla’s passing. His work with Common is especially is something that I respect and admire. For us to have lost many hiphop luminaries, it is certainly detrimental. But to hear someone pay homage and respect renews my confidence is the growth and matury of the people surround and embracing hiphop culture. One love Transmute, May U,Live Forever. E Z