Today is the sixth anniversary of the passing of James Dewitt Yancey, a man widely acknowledged by many as the greatest Hip Hop producer ever. We knew him as Jay Dee and later on J Dilla to avoid confusion with contemporary Hip Hop & R&B producer Jermaine Dupri. The game hasn’t been the same since Dilla passed away. The first time it really hit me that Jay Dee was actually killing shit was 1996 when I was at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD. Back then I was in radio heaven because the Baltimore/DC area had about 4 ridiculous urban radio stations including Morgan State’s station and the fallout from the signing of the Telecommunications Act hadn’t taken full effect yet.

They used to play nothing but heat and they had the habit of playing Tha Pharcyde’s “Runnin’”, “Drop” & “Y?” all back to back to back. They also played tracks from Busta Rhymes “The Coming”, De La Soul’s lead single “Stakes Is High” and album tracks from Mad Skillz “From Where???” often. If you ever perused the liner notes of these albums you may have noticed that Jay Dee’s name came up and made you say “Hold up!” on each jawn.

The release of A Tribe Called Quest “Beats, Rhymes & Life”, “Jay Dee Unreleased EP”, “The Love Movement”, Slum Village’s “Fantastic Vol. 1″, Q-Tip’s “Amplified”, The Roots’ “Things Fall Apart”, Phife Dawg’s “Ventilation: Da LP”, Slum Village’s “Fantastic Vol. 2″, Common’s “Like Water For Chocolate”, J-88 “Best Kept Secret”, Erykah Badu’s “Mama’s Gun” and several other remixes (not including numerous other notable projects and his uncredited contributions to several other seminal albums that are universally regarded as classics today) set up his foray into solo work. Now Jay Dee would show the world what he had to offer both musically and lyrically.

J Dilla finally dropped his official BBE debut LP “Welcome 2 Detroit” in February 2001. If you weren’t paying close attention to Dilla’s musical output during this pivotal time period then you missed out honestly. There’s a heartfelt and sincere reason why people were compelled enough to rock shirts that said “J Dilla Changed My Life” after he passed away.

I can’t imagine having gone the past 15+ years of my life being completely oblivious to his work. Much the same way Bruce Lee, Muhammad Ali, Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, Bill Withers, James Brown, Prince, Hunter S. Thompson, Piri Thomas, Pete Rock, DJ Premier, RZA and many others have changed my life by me being exposed to their art, music or writing so did James Yancey. If I had to think about it I could say without any reservation whatsoever that J Dilla DID, in fact change my life.

I’ve previously written about my days discussing Dilla’s production with my producer & DJ friends going back as far as 1996. I’ve written about how I used to cop the Jay Dee Bling 47 beat CD’s from Sandbox Automatic back in the days. I vividly remember the lukewarm reception Common’s “Electric Circus” had when it first dropped because heads thought it was “too weird” and critics thought it was too much of a sonic departure from Common’s previous output. I’ve discussed on Twitter about the time I went to cop the import vinyl of the original “Ruff Draft EP” back in 2003 and I soon realized there were five other heads there to do the same.

Then there was the megaton bomb known as Jaylib “Champion Sound” that was dropped on the masses around the same time on Stones Throw Records. I can’t recall getting into a friend’s car at any point in time between the winter of 2003 or the summer of 2004 and not hearing that album at some point during the ride. It was around this time that he’d already been established as one of the best to ever do it. I had no idea he wouldn’t be with us too much longer.

I remember seeing those first pictures of Dilla when his health started to deteriorate and being in complete shock. It still hadn’t hit me that he was in danger of not fully recovering and eventually getting back into good health until I saw footage of him doing a show in a wheelchair. He didn’t want to disappoint those that paid money to see him perform so he toughed it out rocked it anyways. That is the kind of selflessness that made his fans love him all the more.

“Donuts”, “The Shining”, the Stones Throw re-release of “Ruff Draft” and “Jay Love Japan” were all still in the works as a bed ridden Dilla would continue to make slaps up until his passing three days after his 32nd birthday. Most humans only begin to scratch the surface of their full potential in life during their 30′s and James Yancey left this mortal coil at 32 as an unadulterated musical genius. My people & I used to joke that if you wanted to make hot shit all you had to do was bite what Dilla was currently doing. We were saying this back around 2000/01, mind you…

J Dilla is hands down the most influential producer of the past 15+ years. This coming from a guy that listens to more beat tapes than any doctor, psychiatrist or record label A&R would recommend for anyone that wants to keep their sanity. The way he chopped samples, the sound and crispness of his drums, even the way he played keys on some of his tracks all stand out in my memory. The man revolutionized how many thought about music production, among these people were legendary music producers.

You can hear Dilla’s influence in hundreds of producers and beatmakers the world over today. I feel for those that never became fans of his or didn’t have the opportunity to have Dilla change their lives as well. In my line of work, I regularly encounter those that have cite him as a major influence and motivation to pursue music production.

Six years later, several posthumous Dilla projects have dropped (the new Ma Dukes endorsed project “The Rebirth Of Detroit” is forthcoming) with the exception of his 2003 MCA LP “Pay Jay” and greats such as Pete Rock, DJ Premier, DJ Scratch, Havoc, Q-Tip, Questlove and Nottz regard him as the greatest Hip Hop producer ever. All I know is had I never heard James Yancey’s music I definitely wouldn’t be the same person I am today with the same appreciation I have for the universal artform of Hip Hop music.

Rest In Eternal Peace, J Dilla 1974-2006

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