I learned of jay dee’s death in a very weird way. I made a review of jd’s project on amazon.com on feb.8 and I came to work on feb. 11 to see if it had posted yet. So by that time, there were other reviews submitted and when I read the first one, it read something to the effect of “rest in peace j dilla…” and I was like what “f” are they talking about by rest in peace?!!! I scrolled down the page to read another review, and it read something to the effect of, “jay dee’s legacy will live on forever…” but still, I was like these people must be on crack or something cause jay dee isn’t dead - he may be a little ill, but he isn’t dead! So then I went to allhiphop.com, then to stonesthrow.com, and lastly to okayplayer.com and only then was I convinced that his death did occur. I was in total shock - I couldn’t accept the instant pain that it brought to my heart. I thought of the vast library that he erected and then thought of all the artist that will be affected by his death – the d’angelo’s, the common’s, the badu’s, roots, slum, phat kat, spacek, de la, frank n dank, kweli’s, poyser’s, and many others. I couldn’t believe that there would be no more boom bap percussion and click clack hi-hats. And I don’t care what anybody says, ELECTRIC CIRCUS WAS AND IS A CLASSIC. NOBODY CAME OUT WITH A SOUND LIKE THAT BEFORE THAT PROJECT. NO ONE HAD THE GUTS OR THE VISION TO CREATE THAT SOUND. LIKE MILES DAVIS WITH HIS JAZZ FUSION SOUND IN THE EARLY 70’S WAS AHEAD OF ITS TIME, SO IS ELECTRIC CIRCUS. JUST STAY AROUND 15 TO 20 MORE YEARS AND SEE…

See, there are those that loved tupac and biggie, but those guys aren’t on my top 5 list of emcees. Their deaths puzzled me rather than caused me a lot of pain. JAY DEE’S DEATH TOOK MY BREATH AWAY LITERALLY!!! I cherished this guy as a producer and his mic skills weren’t lacking either. He was by far the dopest emcee on “fantastic”. He could definitely spit! There is only one producer out there that can “come close” to j dilla, and that’s madlib. Everybody else, don’t even think about it. See, jay dee could do what primo could do, but primo can’t do what j dilla did. The same with pete rock, dr. dre, pharrell, and kanye. As a matter of fact, madlib can’t flip a track like j dilla did even though madlib is the most talented producer out there overall. Jay dee was way special. I mean, I was like, why couldn’t some other garbage rapper or producer passed away??!!! Why jay dee? Then it thought about it. Jay dee made heavenly tracks, so why wouldn’t god go ahead and claim him for good? If I was god, I would have jay dee up several tracks and years ago. I can only hope that there are others that were students of jay dee’s approach, sound, and modus operandi. We can only wish for the best of imitators as I would never call it biting, I would call it inspiration. I will miss jay dee’s sound. DAMN. HE WAS THE BEST – PERIOD. Hearing a jay dee track was like being introduced to hip hop for the very first time all over again. His tracks brought tears to my eyes as I would sit and think, “how in the hell did he come up with that? This jd cat can’t be human!”

Since jd posed the question himself in the linear notes of his cd, what is the sample he used for “it’s like that” on his “Welcome to Detroit project”? PLEASE POST IF YOU KNOW WHAT HE SAMPLED FOR THAT TRACK.