February 7 would have been James Yancey's birthday. Instead, one of hip-hop's great producers died three days after his 32nd year on Feb. 10, 2006 and then achieved a most bittersweet triumph.
February 7 would have been James Yancey's birthday. Instead, one of
hip-hop's great producers died three days after his 32nd year on Feb.
10, 2006 and then achieved a most bittersweet triumph with two
posthumous albums: The Shining and Donuts.
Who knows if J-Dilla's name would continue to be remembered if not
for the new material that continues to spring forth, from the
ever-reliable Stones Throw (a reissue of Ruff Draft packed with
unreleased material that's due next month) to his many friends (Phat
Kat, among others, will issue J-Dilla tracks over the next several
months)? Certainly hip-hop -- and popular music in general -- does a
poor job of remembering its fallen idols. Even the dead are subject to
the same trends, peaks and valleys in popularity as the living. That's
why we celebrate Tupac Shakur and not Big Pun; and Big L and not
Cowboy.
J-Dilla remains in our thoughts because his music is
more relevant than ever. The future soul locus that now occupies much
of the black music underground, with its mixture of heartfelt neo-soul,
tentative leaps into house music and broken beat, and occasional yet
unapologetic thug-ism was anticipated by J-Dilla and his village of the
slum. It is important, too, that we are celebrating his birthday.
Unlike Tupac and Biggie, we aren't celebrating his death-day with
magazine covers and tributaries to the moment he was slain and burst
forth into the mainstream public's conscience. We're hailing his life
and music.
You can visit Stones Throw's website and learn more
about its activities, from tribute parties and a special podcast to the
aforementioned Ruff Draft. This site's efforts are much more
modest, but no less heartfelt. Below you'll find an essay I wrote on
the day I learned J Dilla passed. RIP James "Jay Dee/J Dilla" Yancey.
Photo by Rafael Rashid from the book Behind the Beat. Taken from Stones Throw's website.
