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I first met Jay Dee in Finland in 2003 when he and Frank n Dank came to do a show in this club called Kerma in Helsinki.
I was just coming out with my first solo album "The Influence" back then and I was just shopping / giving out promos as I was an unsigned artist/producer-DJ.
When the show started me and my friends were able to get close to the DJ booth and my man decided to give my album to Dilla as a gift, and check what happened...
Dilla stopped his set and looked at my man like ok, man, what track should I play? My man suggested track #2 or something and the whole room went silent waiting too see if the shit was wack... Imagine how I felt... About a few bars into the beat Dilla starts smiling and nodding heīs head like Damn!! and then asked my man "Who made this?" And my man pointed me out from the front row next to him. We even rocked the mic a little with Dilla and Frank and we all had a dope conversation after the show.
Me and Dilla even talked about doing some music together soon and about different equipment... He was amazed about me doing what i did on the MPC...WTF?! I know. I was the one who was supposed to say that to him, not the other way around... crazy...
Now fast forward to 2005
My crews collaboration album (Recluse Crew & Synoptic: The Art Of Raw Sound ), finally after three years gets itīs proper release and distribution and the label surprises us by throwing our album release party headlined by J Dilla, DJ Rhettmatic, Phat Kat and Frank n Dank!
So I was DJing before Rhettmatic and the crew started their show... At first I was very shocked to hear he was in a wheelchair and then at the show, man he really was seriously in bad condition, but enough about that. Still It was one of the best shows ever.
People cried in the audience... The vibe was really intense and at the same time very respectful. Dilla did the best he could on the mic and for the last part of the show we all just gathered in to the front to listen to the works of J Dilla and everybody was feeling it.
I fortunately was, as far as I know, the only one who had a chance to say whatīs up to the legendary man, since he understandably wasnīt in the condition or mood to meet a huge crowd of people after the show and weīve met earlier.
He recognized me and we shook hands and I told him to get better cause he is the #1 reason I still keep on doing what I do and that we all need him in this music shit. I know, afterwards... damn, I didnīt know how bad it was... Iīve just heard that he was truly on the recovery getting a lot better. Shit, this makes me sad... but then again, these are the type of things that are irreplaceable.
peace,
DJ Staffro
Relcuse Recordings
www.myspace.com/djstaffro
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