J-Dilla
James
DeWitt Yancey, also known as J-Dilla or Jay Dee, was a Hip-Hop producer that in
my opinion was and still is the greatest producer of Hip-Hop to ever have
lived. J-Dilla mastered the technique of using a sampling machine, called an
MPC. J-Dilla had an extraordinary ability to take music, often lost pieces of
music that would never get noticed by people, and make something new out of it.
The reason I believe Dilla is one of the greatest producers, if not the
greatest of all time, is that he could hear a song, chop up a sample, and make
a beat in a matter of 10-20 minutes at most; and they would be instant
classics. Many artists and producers look up to J-Dilla as a pioneer in
Hip-Hop.
James
Yancey was born in Detroit, Michigan February 7, 1974. He was raised on Jazz at
a young age, and soon took an interest in making music. Dilla learned many
instruments as a kid, such as piano, guitar, cello, flute and drums, but as he
grew older, he took up the MPC as his main instrument. J-Dilla made music for
many popular artists, such as Common, Tribe Called Quest, Slum Village,
Pharcyde and Erykah Badu as he grew older.
In
2004, James Yancey was diagnosed with a rare blood disease called Lupus, in
which the body’s immune system begins attacking itself. He did not let this
stop him from making music, however. J-Dilla spent the last few months of his
life in a hospital bed making music, and he released his third solo LP entitled
Donuts, on February 6, 2006, just three days before his passing at the age of
32.
J-Dilla’s
music continues to live on to this day, and will forever be my favorite music
to listen to, due to the amount of diversity and quality of it. There is so
much depth to his music, and I am still finding new music of his to this day,
and different aspects to his music that I had not noticed before. This music
has inspired me, and it has changed the game of Hip-Hop forever.
This site offers a biography, discography, inquiries and other various information about the artist for fans of him. The site is updated frequently, and includes recordings of some of J-Dilla's music and other short stories about the artist and the music.
This website offers information about the artist, photo and video galleries, music and discography, as well as news and a store, where you can purchase CD's, vinyls, clothes, etc.