Rest in Peace, J Dilla

Last week in Detroit, over 300 friends and family gathered for a memorial service for one of the most prolific beat makers of our generation, J Dilla. James Yancey a.k.a. Jay Dee / J Dilla / J-88, a co-founder of the Detroit hip-hop group the Slum Village, co-conspirator with fellow master producer and long-lost brother Madlib, a Detroit native and a Pistons fan passed away on Feb. 10 in Los Angeles. He was only 32.

He had suffered for over three years with an incurable blood disease and had also been diagnosed with Lupus. In recent years, after moving from his native Detroit to Los Angeles, his mother, Mauren Yancey, followed her son to be there to support him, and J Dilla made his spiritual transition in her loving arms.

You can call him a beat maker, producer, rapper, hustler, icon, son of Motown, cultural innovator, or just Mr. Old Soul and the master of all things dusty and vinyl. His short, prolific, career included production and rhyming with the likes of Common, De La Soul, The Roots, Mos Def, and he is most known for the 'Boom Clap, Boom Clap' -- his signature Detroit sound. If you have been under a rock for the past 13 years or have been paying attention to only the more mainstream elements of the hip-hop world (shame on you!) then you must check and listen to his impressive discography. For real, it is probably safe to say that nearly every beat maker that is doing his or her thing today has in some way been influenced by him.

J Dilla was the man in the crossroads of soul and hip hop: independent, soulful, underground, yet aboveground, and always international. In fact, J Dilla "gave hip hop soul," says Asya Shein the founder of Mir Media and Fusicology, who once organized a tour for Dilla throughout Europe -- the same tour that almost got canceled due to his illness. Dilla went hard all the way until the end, doing a tour recently from a wheelchair.

J Dilla was born in the ubiquitous home of the hip-hop mayor -- Motown. From soulful house to hard techno, the Motown Sound permeated everything in the "Motor City" of Detroit. While J Dilla was undoubtedly hip hop to the core, there was a strong soulful element that gave his sound a universal appeal. In the mid-'90s he brought that soulful energy to hip-hop heavyweights like Busta Rhymes, Pharcyde, Common, A Tribe Called Quest (he produced many tracks on the Love Movement Album), and collaborated with then silky, soulful Detroit native DeAngelo.

Black Thought, MC of The Roots commented, "I've never seen anyone with a better understanding of sampling and reinventing sound. I've never seen anyone with a tighter grip on technology and how to use it to broaden ones perspective without losing sight of the original … hip hop." "He was a true hip-hop artist. The vinyl of the world served as his colors. The sp1200, mpc60, keyboards and computer programs were the brushes he used to apply his gift to the canvas," Black Thought added.

J Dilla's imprint is massive in today's independent soul as it bubbles under the surface steeped in DJ culture, feeding popular mainstream culture with authenticity, creativity, and pure rude-styled coolness. In the areas of serious dance music -- New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco, Tokyo, London and Toronto, among others -- J Dilla is as popular as Kanye West, Just Blaze or any of the other super-producers in the hip-pop pantheon.

DJ Sake 1 -- arguably the reigning soul music DJ in California's Bay Area with his flagship crew ((Local 1200)) commented, "I kinda get the feeling that the era after 2005 will be known as the "A.D." or After Dilla years."

In true Dilla fashion, he did not go out without leaving his fans and fellow producers something meaty to chew on. His latest release is a hard-driving, guitar-laced, wall-of-sound-esque collection he titled Donuts. If J Dilla were alive now he would be in a feverish touring and promotional grind the likes of which may be partially to blame for his condition.