Jay Dee aka J-Dilla - RIP
Because I had only ever known him as Jay-Dee from the S-villa when I first heard the news that Detroit producer by the name of J-Dilla had passed on it didnt really hit me. So being a student of the game I googled him up just so I could find out what he was about and see what I could find from his legacy. Little did I know that it was indeed Jay-dee.I remember the first time I heard something Jay-Dee had put his golden touch to. It was Climax(Girl Sh!t). It had an ambience about it that just hit me up side my head and made me take notice. I was in awe. I set about getting as much on Slum Village as i could get and the more I heard the more it blew me away. It was like picking up a gem while walking down the street under some rubble, you just got lucky cause everyone had walked by there and had not seen it, choosing to either take in the rubble or ignore it altogether. I went about getting whoever i could to listen to S-Villa and everyone agreed this was genius indeed, a personification of it. How can we forget the beat on Heat on Common's Like Chocolate for Water. It had a hypnotic effect and we all were caught up on something so ill we had to listen to it again to make sure we hadn't overrated it but the more we listened to it the more addictive it became. Not that we could expect anything less from him.
For me it was more than the sound. It helped me come to terms with something that I had been ignoring for so long. The defintion of sound. Sometimes as an artist you might start questioning yourself because you are not sure how your sound would be recieved. J-Dilla was not conventional but he was genius. Probably the greatest of a generation. The streets may have not convereted what they heard to money ot he might have not been big on the commercial aspect but Jay Dee did something with so little that kept hip hop close to the head. He took the art of sampling to a new level but without disrespecting the game. He explored the sound and made it original. He didnt just take some sound from back in the days and put some bass on it and say he had put something on it. He made music. And that is his legacy.
Now I never came close to knowing much about Jay Dee but his work but that is what it is about isn't it? His soul was born through his music. That is what I appreciated about him and at the end of the day that is what every artist wants to be remembered for.
So tonight before I go to sleep I will have one song on rotation, Common's Love Is of BE. I will let that set in and that will be my dedication to the life of a man who inspired me. And while we would have liked to have more of you around to lead us we carry the torch you passed on to us with respect.
RIP James Yancey aka J-Dilla aka Jay-Dee
For me it was more than the sound. It helped me come to terms with something that I had been ignoring for so long. The defintion of sound. Sometimes as an artist you might start questioning yourself because you are not sure how your sound would be recieved. J-Dilla was not conventional but he was genius. Probably the greatest of a generation. The streets may have not convereted what they heard to money ot he might have not been big on the commercial aspect but Jay Dee did something with so little that kept hip hop close to the head. He took the art of sampling to a new level but without disrespecting the game. He explored the sound and made it original. He didnt just take some sound from back in the days and put some bass on it and say he had put something on it. He made music. And that is his legacy.Now I never came close to knowing much about Jay Dee but his work but that is what it is about isn't it? His soul was born through his music. That is what I appreciated about him and at the end of the day that is what every artist wants to be remembered for.
So tonight before I go to sleep I will have one song on rotation, Common's Love Is of BE. I will let that set in and that will be my dedication to the life of a man who inspired me. And while we would have liked to have more of you around to lead us we carry the torch you passed on to us with respect.
RIP James Yancey aka J-Dilla aka Jay-Dee
