With the mighty Jay Dee's birthday coming up, Tomas Olesen breaks down what his work has meant for hip hop with a little help from some of the great and good.
February is here which must mean it's time to once again celebrate the birthday and lifeworks of the truly great, sadly late, James Yancey, who died of complications (rare blood disease TTP) linked to Lupus in 2006. One of the most virtuoso hip hop producers of all time, J-Dilla has been cited as a major influence by everyone, including such heavyweights of hip hop production as Pharrell Williams and Kanye West. Interest in him and his back catalogue soared after his death, not least because of tributes, musical or otherwise, from a galaxy of the brightest stars in hip hop. Sadly, despite producing records for some of the biggest names in rap and r & b, because of the punitive costs of healthcare in the U.S he died owing the U.S government a lot of money. Money that is still being paid to this day.
Considering his body of work, it is astonishing that before his death Dilla was so unknown by the mainstream. He can be credited as one of the originators of the neo soul sound through his work with Erykah Badu, D'angelo and close association with Amp Fiddler (the man who introduced him to his weapon of choice, the Akai MPC sampler). His list of productions makes incredible reading for any fan of hip hop. Classic productions included work with A Tribe Called Quest ('Stressed Out', '1nce again', 'Get a Hold'), De La Soul ('Stakes is High', 'Thru ya City'), Busta Rhymes ('Show me what you got', 'Genesis'), The Pharcyde ('Runnin', 'Drop'), Common ('The Light', 'Love is...') Erykah Badu (Didn't Cha Know), and his own group Slum Village.
Rap venerates its lost ones like no other genre of music. Probably because hip hop is such a young culture, still in the process of writing its origin myth, still discovering its Mozarts, its Beatles, its Bob Marleys... Those that pass are remembered in lyrics, graffiti, and posthumous albums stuffed full of famous guests. Most famous amongst these hip hop deities are Tupac and Biggie Smalls, but that's to be expected: they were mega-stars before their tragic deaths. Dilla's star, in front of the desk at least, was only just rising when he died, and like a hip hop Obi-Wan he has become more influential and recognised in death than he was in life.
It may indeed seem odd that someone lauded as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time should have remained below the mass media radar. But then Yancey didn't produce the kind of gangsta rap that has become big money for the likes of 50 Cent or Lil Wayne. That's not to say he didn't have a commercial sound or wasn't capable of making big hits. He produced Janet Jackson's Grammy winning 'Got 'til It's Gone' for instance, and you'd be hard pushed to call his hits for the Pharcyde, Busta Rhymes, Common, or Tribe underground. But mostly he seems to have been much happier to pull the strings in the background, to be praised by his peers in the industry rather than seeking to be a poster boy for his art. It's a stance many of today's biggest hip hop stars might do well to heed.
Perhaps the saddest thing about the aftermath of Dilla's passing has been the fact that his estate has been the subject of contention and his mother, herself now diagnosed with Lupus, has neither been unable to start the foundation for Lupus that they'd discussed nor cover the costs of her own treatment. Much has been written about these problems and it does now appear that his two daughters are being granted access to some amount of money from the estate. The manner in which Arty Erk, Dilla's accountant and now executor of his estate, has pursued numerous litigations against old friends of Yancey's seems at odds with the way Dilla himself dealt with people, often just giving away beat CDs to friends. Included in the list of people who've fallen foul of the estate's legal actions is Busta Rhymes, and people who've promoted events in his name – even his own mother.
So, as we prepare to celebrate Dilla day, Spoonfed talked to a few of our favourite artists to see what Dilla meant to them and how his work has affected theirs. Click here to read what they said.
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