J. Dilla
The Pistons To Release A Capsule Collection Dedicated To J. Dilla
The capsule collection will be available March 13 on the Pistons 313 Shop and will no doubt become must-have attire for the hardcore J. Dilla and Detroit Piston fans out there.
D-Dot, Bad Boy Producer, Claims Superiority Over Dilla’s Beats
“I love J Dilla to death, but he can’t see my catalog," Angelettie said on Math Hoffa's podcast, 'My Expert Opinion.' Social media users reacted.
Erykah Badu Fondly Remembers Working With J Dilla
Erykah Badu spoke with fans at a meet and greet session and shared her memories of working with the late, great James "J Dilla" Yancey.
Questlove to Executive Produce New J Dilla Documentary
Fresh off his Oscar win for Summer of Soul, Questlove is on to his next project. The Roots drummer will executive produce a new documentary on J Dilla. Questlove’s Two One Five Entertainment is teaming with his Summer of Soul producer, Joseph Patel, New York Times bestselling author Dan Charnas, Cinetic Media, and Scenario Media to develop the documentary, which will be produced in cooperation with J Dilla’s estate. Titled Dilla Time, the documentary is based on Charnas’ book Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, The Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm. In a statement, Dilla’s estate offered their endorsement of the project. “The estate of James Dewitt Yancey, and its wholly-owned production entity, Pay Jay Productions, Inc., which benefits J Dilla’s two children, his youn...
Bounce: Twitter Remembers J Dilla On What Would Have Been His 48th BIrthday
HipHopWired Featured Video CLOSE Source: Gregory Bojorquez / Getty J Dilla left such an ineffaceable mark on Hip-Hop music and beyond, displaying production mastery that has been imitated widely but never duplicated. The late, great Detroit beatsmith and rapper would have been 48 today, and fans on Twitter are gathering to celebrate his life and legacy. Born James Dewitt Yancey on February 7, 1974, the tale of how the producer once known as Jay Dee morphed into J Dilla began on the east side of the Motor City as the eldest of four children. His parents, singer Maureen “MaDukes” Yancey-Smith and bassist Beverly Dewitt Yancey, passed on their love of music to their children but young James was bitten early by the Hip-Hop bug and the “pause tape” art of sampling classic records. As the story ...
Dan Charnas’s Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm
For music journalist Dan Charnas, telling J Dilla’s story was a personal quest. Dilla, the highly influential rap producer, died in 2006. “In the 15 years since his death, journalists and academics have written about him, and musicians have extolled his work,” Charnas says. “But no one had put it all together in a definitive statement: That this beatmaker who worked out of a basement in Detroit literally pioneered a new rhythmic time-feel, one that traditional musicians and electronic producers around the world now use. So, I felt a sense of urgency to recount that story, that innovation, and make that argument so he can have his rightful place in history.” Charnas began his work on Dilla Time in 2017 with a course he taught at the Clive Davis Institute at NYU. “The reporting and research ...
The Reissue Section: Winter 2021
While it’s been a challenge for bands to collaborate in person over the last year, archival releases have been booming. And over the course of this first quarter, lots of goodies have dropped. Here are some of the most worthy entries in the reissue world. Black SabbathVol. 4 Deluxe Edition (Rhino)Heaven and Hell Deluxe Edition (Rhino)Mob Rules Deluxe Edition (Rhino) What we have here are three essential Black Sabbath albums from two distinctly different periods in the band’s timeline. 1972’s Vol. 4 is renowned mostly for the hedonism and drug use that went down during the album’s creation in Los Angeles. But nearly 50 years later, it stands as the creative pinnacle of the Ozzy era. By bringing the production duties in-house, the original lineup of Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bi...
Busta Rhymes Talks Massive J Dilla Stash, ‘ELE 2’ & More
Source: Al Pereira / Getty Busta Rhymes defies the idea that Hip-Hop music is a young person’s game, especially proving he’s got plenty left in the tank with his latest studio album, Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath Of God. In a new interview, the great Bussa Bus shared that he’s sitting on 300 beats from the late J Dilla among other revelations while sharing details of his 30-year and still ongoing career. Sitting down with Cheo Hodari Coker for GQ, the 48-year-old rapper and entertainer went through a range of topics that included his dramatic weight loss, his connection to Q-Tip, and of course the depths of ELE 2. However, the admission that he’s holding on to 300 J Dilla beats caught the attention of most readers. From GQ: “Strap Yourself Down” is also interesting because you have a...
J Dilla’s Welcome 2 Detroit Celebrates 20th Anniversary With Vinyl Box Set
Next year marks the 20th anniversary of J. Dilla’s Welcome 2 Detroit. And to celebrate the occasion, BBE Music will be releasing a remastered deluxe 7″ vinyl box set in next February. “Peter (Adarkwah, founder of BBE) let me do whatever I wanted to do,” the late Dilla said in a previous statement about his first solo project. “So, I wanted to put people on there who are gonna spit y’know, lyrically and represent Detroit. Because I wouldn’t have been able to pull this album off if it came out under a major. Cos they’re not gonna let you just do a song or you can’t just do an instrumental. You gotta have this feature and you’re Jay Dee, why ain’t you got Erykah Badu? Why ain’t you got so and so on your album? I’d have had to go through all of that, instead of just putting out…y’know, Beej on...
