Celtics, Music, & Hot Bitches: The Blog: RIP J Dilla

Thank you Jay Dee

by Rick Welsch

Exactly three years ago this day hip hop (and all of music) lost one of its brightest and greatest talents. James Dewitt Yancey, otherwise known as J Dilla, passed on after a long and hard battle against both Lupus and a rare blood disease. Dilla was known for his soulful samples, which would later help define the Neo Soul rap movement. Dilla gained the respect and admiration from some of hip hop's greatest stars, Common, Mos Def, Busta Rhymes, Ghostface Killah, Q-Tip, Kanye West, ?uestlove, Talib Kweli, Eryka Badu. Also going to Rock the Bells for the past two years you hear alot of the artists give shout outs to Dilla along with other fallen stars. Slim Kid Tre gave me a pound upon seeing my Dilla shirt at the show. The thing is he went out of this way to do this. Q-Tip referenced my same shirt a few times on stage when I saw him and Common in at the 2K Bounce Tour. So many musicians loved and respected this man, as well as so many real hip hop fans. Check out here for a discography, and here is a free mp3 of a Jaylib (Dilla and Madlib) concert from '04. For anyone not fimiliar with his work please download either Slum Village's Fan-Tas-Tic Vol 1 or J Dilla's Donuts, which was released three days before his passing to the spiritual world.

Runnin'
Fuck The Police
Nothing Like This
Airworks
Lightworks
The $
Look of Love

Dilla, the Great
by Conor Levis

There isn't much else to add from what Rick said. J Dilla was, and still is, one of the most respected individuals in Hip-Hop. It seems like theres always a shout out to Dilla at every Hip-Hop concert I go to. I remember how hooked I was the first time I listened to J Dilla's instrumental album Donuts. I loved the way Dilla could take soul samples and make them his own. For example, here is the beat you hear at the top and this is the song that he samples for it. It's incredible, isn't it? It's the only instrumental album that I have on my iPod in it's entirety. It's the only instrumental album I'll even listen to in it's entirety. Jay Dee had the rare talent of capturing an emotion or even telling a story through his soulful sounds, without a single word or lyric spoken. When I listen to a Dilla beat, I feel like so much more is said than any lyric ever could. Sometimes words just don't do them justice. Here are my personal favorite J Dilla instrumental tracks, including the beat you hear playing at the top (which stripped down might be my favorite beat ever). I hope you will enjoy and see the beauty in all of them. R.I.P. Jay Dee, one of the greatest to ever do it.

The Light (by Common, my favorite Dilla beat)