He would’ve been 45 years old today

I’d love to say that I was a lifeline fan but that’d be a lie.
In 2007ish Katie (nee) P put me on to Dilla as an entity. Some of it was stuff that I knew and much of it was new to me.
But it’s been damn great learning the man and his legacy.
I did the Donuts Party every year before last (we had a very small kid) since I moved up here. Partied there after we got engaged at 30 Rock.
I personally “mixed” a few songs to be our aisle music
And then R Tistic somehow managed to make a clean version of “Fall in Love” for our wedding playlist.


All this to say

Thank you Jay Dee.

really got into him around 04 when i moved to detroit. before that i had started getting into some of his songs, esp vol2. when i first saw people talk about him i listened to some songs he produced and didnt get it.

i think raise it up was the turning point, which i heard in late 02 or 03. i think i became a full blown fan a bit before his passing. the tribute shows in detroit were always a great thing. 05-07 was all about his sound to me.

this reminds me, i cant find an official version of the red remix on google play :/

would love to go to a tribute show down here but i dont even know if we have clubs/bars that play good hiphop.

<-- 915 resident too

i think there was someone from las cruces here before too.

is there any place that has good hiphop? i know funk will play a mix of 80's/90s music but it would be cool to hear just some boom bap.

Nothing that I can think of. Even asked my cousin (fellow OKP lurker and biggest hip hop I know) and he couldn't come up with any spots either.

While I loved his production I never understood how he elevated to God status.

Maybe it’s because hip hop is hard on its producers but Dilla seemed like the producer who crossed over to super hero status.

Had white girls who were new to hip hop asking backpackers if they were up on Dilla.

.....

We drove early to a show to meet Dill and Slum Village. Shared the stage with Slum Village that night but the funny thing was some dude acted like he was Dilla when we showed up and my boy was showing him mad love. Then Elzhi was like “Dilla ain’t here, he isn’t feeling well and didn’t make the trip”

From that day in my boy HATED Dilla and it wasn’t even Dillas fault.

>While I loved his production I never understood how he
>elevated to God status.
>
>Maybe it’s because hip hop is hard on its producers but
>Dilla seemed like the producer who crossed over to super hero
>status.
>
>Had white girls who were new to hip hop asking backpackers if
>they were up on Dilla.

thats kind of funny. i do think people took it a bit far but he also was great. he had such an impact. i think he passed right as people were really recognizing him so that played into it.

>
>.....
>
>We drove early to a show to meet Dill and Slum Village. Shared
>the stage with Slum Village that night but the funny thing was
>some dude acted like he was Dilla when we showed up and my boy
>was showing him mad love. Then Elzhi was like “Dilla ain’t
>here, he isn’t feeling well and didn’t make the trip”
>
>From that day in my boy HATED Dilla and it wasn’t even
>Dillas fault.

haha why would he hate dilla??

He really hates himself for getting played by Slum Villages Manager.

So I prolly heard it but didn’t really appreciate it.

Why?

He can’t sing for shit. But he can construct a sound/emotion out of anywhere.

That was Dilla

He took elements and did alchemy.

Take “Gone” for example

https://youtu.be/T5FsSSRDGUI

Never found the official instrumental for one of my favorite Dilla tracks, so this will have to do

I never listened to Hip-Hop the same after that.

Jay Dee changed my life for real





*************************************

Fuck aliens

-Warriorpoet415

#2dopebrothersandastackofwax

https://www.instagram.com/thirtythree.three/

The Greatest Story (N)ever Told (finished)

http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=s

I was a devotee ever since. But I wasn't. I was 12/13 and getting into music and while I enjoyed it, I wasn't in any kind of space to really appreciate his work until college. I don't think I realized just how many things he had touched that I listened to until then (also, by then the internet was a thing for me and I had a better understanding of what a producer actually does.)

There are other producers who will have more said about them when they pass away. But I still don't know if we'll ever see the outpouring from *musicians* that we got when Dilla went. MAYBE someone like Primo might command that level of sheer adoration among his peers, I can't think of anyone else who could come close.

Like, if you're a Dilla stan and don't like or worse know about either of these we can't communicate. If I mention The Ummah and you draw a blank? Nah...

And for the record, I loved BR&L, didn't much care for Labcabcalifornia (but that may be because of how beautiful Bizarre Ride is)

>Like, if you're a Dilla stan and don't like or worse know
>about either of these we can't communicate. If I mention The
>Ummah and you draw a blank? Nah...
>
>And for the record, I loved BR&L, didn't much care for
>Labcabcalifornia (but that may be because of how beautiful
>Bizarre Ride is)

I love both of these 2 albums. They were my Jay Dee introductory companion pieces. I was heavy into getting the new hip hop releases of the time, reading the publications, paying attention to album credits, etc.. At first, I didn't know who the Ummah was. I was like "who tf are these guys changing up the Tribe sound?" I thought they were a live band for some reason..like the Roots.. a live band but playing like a drum machine/sampler. I coulda swore those were live drums and keys at first. lol.

I felt the same way about LabCabin as well (at first).. not because the production was bad at all, but because I was comparing it to the vibrant feel of J-Swift and LA Jay production. I saw Jay Dee in the liner notes, and just figured it was one of the other 2 J's and the sound was just switched up to fit the current/emerging soundscape. It quickly became one of my favorites

Then, there was the Stakes Is High credits.. The beat/production was exactly what I was tuned into on that joint. "Produced by Jay Dee" hmmm...

Next, there was a feature in I think Rap Pages about the next 10 producers to look out for.. I forget the others, but I do know EA-Ski and CMT were on there.. and Jay Dee.

Fast Forward to hearing Slum Village/Fantastic Vol. 1 for the first time in somebody's car.. Then, getting Vol. 2 and playing the shit out of it non-stop.

and it was a wrap!

Fan for life at that point

Glad I got to see him perform with Jaylib and Madvillain in SF shortly after Madvillainy dropped.. not too long after Champion Sound.

not because of the production but because Tribe was obviously on their way to breaking up and it felt like they just threw the album together.

and Bizzare was way better than LabCab as an album.

I was also introduced via Tribe but later, on The Love Movement. I'd heard BR&L in bits and pieces but didn't really know who was on production. I'd also been a huge fan of Stakes is High but again, didn't really know who Jay Dee was so seeing his name in the credits didn't really move the needle at the time since I was so young. But I was/am around the same age as you as well, give or take a year or so I think.

But yea by college I was fully immersed in the Soulquarian vibe so I went backwards and forward as a Dilla fanboy from there. I was, and continue to be, blown away by the unprecedented impact he's had on so many different corners of production culture. His imprint is everywhere. And I'm also always blown away by how many times he shapeshifted and recreated himself. One of a kind talent, gone too soon.

Couldn't agree more re: the outpouring of love he has and continues to receive from his peers. It's remarkable, but also unsurprising considering how timeless his sound(s) is/are.


>RE: Was introduced through Beats, Rhymes & Life and would love to say
>I was a devotee ever since. But I wasn't. I was 12/13 and
>getting into music and while I enjoyed it, I wasn't in any
>kind of space to really appreciate his work until college. I
>don't think I realized just how many things he had touched
>that I listened to until then (also, by then the internet was
>a thing for me and I had a better understanding of what a
>producer actually does.)
>
>There are other producers who will have more said about them
>when they pass away. But I still don't know if we'll ever see
>the outpouring from *musicians* that we got when Dilla went.
>MAYBE someone like Primo might command that level of sheer
>adoration among his peers, I can't think of anyone else who
>could come close.

Been a fan ever since.

I remember the last one I went to featured Oddisee, De La Soul, and they got Bilal at the last minute. They performed the Rough Draft EP. Shit was dope as fuck.

Obviously Runnin and Stakes is High made me check for him, but probably Slum Village Fantastic Vol 2 most made me a fan.

Guys would really sit around and lab his albums high as fuck, I was never that analytical despite also making beats, but I appreciate what he did in creating his own space and texture in hip hop

I did when they first started doing them (I even DJed the first one in my city) but only for the first two years after that I've just laid low on them, kats already know I'm a big fan, I listen to his music almost every day, always did, just like most of his affiliates Slum Village, T-3, Elzhi, Frank Nitty, Phat Kat, Illa J., Dwele, Que D., Waajeed, Houseshoes, Amp Fiddler, Big Tone, Ta'Raach, and the list goes on & on.

I feel like I don't need to prove it to people in town, those that know know, those that don't, don't, and you be surprised those who only know his donut-esque & JayLib stuff and maybe a few singles from DLS; maybe that's why I just rather keep to myself on those events, I'm still get pissed when I see him being synonymous with donuts with icing on them before I use to always think of Homer Simpson, still do.

i remember i went to the one jawn at fluid (also RIP) where ?uest was spinning and that shit was pretty fly. i went to another one later that was kinda fly but it had a little of the vibe you're describing for sure.

Song like Drop, Running, the De La and Tribe production. He has a Keith Murray remix of the rhyme that's one of my favorites. The Roots and Common stuff is classic, Tip's first solo too. His later stuff is kinda of hit or miss with me I remember buying Welcom to Detroit and being kinda let down. But he does have gems in the later catalog for sure.

me and one of my boys were getting twisted and listening to uptown saturday night, this would been maybe 1998 or 1999 when we were still in high school. he was like this sounds like a jay dee beat. and like a dumbass i was like uhhh this sounds nothing like jermaine dupri, man. and he said nah jay dee outta detroit. unbenownst to me i had already heard and loved some of his work, notably that she said remix he had done with the pharcyde.

i kinda catalogged it in my mind and maybe a year later really started fucking with his work. i remember having lyrics from fantastic vol 2 for my email sigs for about a year after that.

fast forward i had heard he was sick but he was so young no matter how bad the news was i had kinda convinced myself he would pull through. was living back in philly at the time and when i read (right here on OKP) that he passed i remember having a sadness i've never felt when somebody i didn't know personally died. first time and maybe the only time i can remember getting drunk by myself, too. it just felt so unjust for someone with so much passion for music to be wiped out like that.

https://soundcloud.com/jperiod/jperiod-presents-the-live-mixtape-dilla-day-2017-edition-feat-black-thought


Just in case folks missed it. Dope shit.

this cat had damn near EVERY remix JayDee did posted up.

Love (A thing of the past) was the WILDEST shxt I'd heard up until that point..

props to whomever was behind that.

https://www.okayplayer.com/music/j-dilla-details-his-musical-roots-and-sampling-philosophy-in-unearthed-2003-interview.html

This past Friday they had Elzhi out here along with Rockness Monstah (who apparently spends time in Tucson now haha), OneBeLo (Binary Star), Bronze Nazareth, a bunch of DJ's.

As far as Dilla goes, I was on board as of Fantastic Vol. 2 as far as specifically knowing "I'm buying this because of Jay Dee". I had connected the dots in the late 90's with The Ummah stuff, Pharcyde, De La, etc., but FV2 is where I knew the deal and seeked out everything he was directly/indirectly/officially/unofficially connected to. Was a wrap from then on.

In 2006 I got the vanity J DILLA license plates and still have them till this day. Kinda cool every so often someone will pull up beside me at a traffic light or in the parking lot and say "that's dope, Dilla, man!"

My fiance certainly didn't know who he was until we met but she rocks Donuts, The Shining, Jaylib occasionally (i.e. his later-era stuff).

I welcome any conversation with folks that want to know "Who was Dilla? Why was he THAT dude to you" when they see the car or hear his name. Never too late to recognize greatness and depending on the person I can usually steer them to a phase/era of his that they'll appreciate.


__
I don't like the beat anymore because its just a loop. ALC didn't FLIP IT ENOUGH!

Flip it enough? Flip these. Flip off. Go flip some f*cking burgers.(c)Kno

Allied State of the National Electric Beat Treaty Organization (NEBTO)

... from seeing his name (Jay Dee) thru tribe/busta/de la/pharcydethem the fantastic vol 2.... then enter J Dilla with wecome to Detroit...
he was just somebody who’s music I absolutely loved and it spoke to me. Ruff Draft (not the stones throw release, but the original) was huge for me...
that’s one of the reason I first got into the lesson... it was so many like-minded people together - and love for dilla united most of us...
Then the stones throw and jaylib time was great also....
Still listen to the beat tapes all the time... still amazed when I listen

On his birthdays, me and my sons listen to donuts while eating donuts. Corny? Probably. But that man means too much to me. Gotta share with the kiddos

He's done tons of these tributes since Dilla's death but it's always a treat because he was good friends with him.

Video interview via Soulection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW9TAEMvSlk&t

Soulection has a Soundcloud page where they often upload the mixes but the J. Rocc mix is missing. At least there's the video interview! Hopefully, episode No. 395 will pop up here later this week: https://soundcloud.com/soulection/tracks

He plugged the show earlier, before he went live: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt9P8d6F7c3/

His post from Dilla's birthday:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Btl7HHql2OZ/

Here's the playlist from his Stereo in Adventure show from earlier this month. I don't fuck with Apple Music but for those that do, here's the link: https://twitter.com/jrocc/status/1097851385960255488