Radio LBB: Long Live J Dilla

James Dewitt Yancey — the pioneering hip hop producer and beat maker latterly known as Jay Dee and J Dilla — was born in Detroit on February 7th, 1974 to an opera singer mother and a jazz bassist father. As an adult, his loose rhythms, distinctive sounds and inventive melodies drew from jazz, soul, funk and R&B all at once — inspiring a generation of music fans in the ‘90s and beyond. He would die from a lupus-related illness within days of his 32nd birthday, on February 10th, 2006.

This week, to mark the anniversary of both his birth and his passing, we’ve compiled a new DOLCE radio mix to celebrate the legacy of J Dilla — a musician so influential that The Guardian once described him as “the Mozart of hip hop”.

Yancey’s career began in high school when he befriended eventual Slum Village bandmates Titus Glover (aka Baatin) and RL Altman III (aka T3) over their shared passion for rap battles. Years later, in the late ‘90s, the trio would be hailed as successors to the disbanding A Tribe Called Quest with the release of records like ‘Fantastic, Vol. 2’. The album, which includes key tracks like ‘Climax’ and ‘I Don’t Know’, was lauded by critics — who praised Yancey’s subtle rhythmic grooves and intricate bass lines in the production.

Yancey was already well-known on Detroit’s underground hip hop scene by the turn of the century. He’d passed on a demo tape to Q-Tip (A Tribe Called Quest) as early as 1994, and was soon collaborating with the producer as artists like Janet Jackson, De La Soul and Busta Rhymes also sought him out that decade. The Pharcyde’s singles ‘Drop’ and ‘Runnin’, both released in 1995 when Yancey was just 21, meanwhile, rank among the most beloved J Dilla productions of the era — with the latter incorporating classic Stan Getz jazz samples over laid-back beats.

Greater recognition followed in the early ‘00s, as Yancey combined with The Roots’ Questlove and D’Angelo as a member of the Soulquarians collective, and worked with talents like Common and the singer Erykah Badu (Yancey produced the mesmeric single ‘Didn’t Cha Know’ in 2000). He also collaborated with hip hop artist Madlib for the album ‘Champion Sound’ in 2003 — on which half the songs are Madlib productions featuring Yancey on vocals, and the other half vice versa. All the while, a brief but successful solo career blossomed following the release of the album ‘Welcome 2 Detroit’ in 2001.

In 2005, 'Donuts' — a rich and sample-heavy instrumental record that only broadened his popular appeal — was written and recorded while a bedridden Yancey was receiving treatment in Cedars-Sinai hospital in LA. It was released the following year to universal acclaim, three days before his death. Admiration for Yancey’s music would deepen in the years thereafter with the release of numerous posthumous works (including a collaboration with his younger brother, Illa J, and unfinished or unreleased albums like ‘The Shining’ and ‘Jay Love Japan’). Today, his legacy remains intact as one of the greatest hip hop producers of all time.