J Dilla
J Dilla (Jay Dee), Detroit producer from Conant Gardens: Slum Village, The Ummah, Jaylib, Welcome 2 Detroit (2001), Ruff Draft (2003) and The Shining (2006).
Conant Gardens
J Dilla was born James Dewitt Yancey on February 7, 1974, in Detroit and grew up in Conant Gardens on the city’s east side. He attended Davis Aerospace Technical High School before transferring to Pershing High School, where he formed a rap group with classmates T3 and Baatin. That group became Slum Village. In 1992 he met Amp Fiddler, who introduced him to the Akai MPC sampler, and in 1995 he formed 1st Down with MC Phat Kat.
Producer for hire
Working first as Jay Dee, he produced tracks for The Pharcyde’s Labcabincalifornia and became part of The Ummah, the production team he shared with Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest. He also worked with De La Soul, Busta Rhymes and Janet Jackson, and was a founding member of the Soulquarians alongside Questlove, D’Angelo and James Poyser. Critics credit him with shaping the neo-soul sound.
Solo records and Jaylib
After leaving Slum Village he released Welcome 2 Detroit on BBE in 2001 as part of the label’s Beat Generation series, taking the J Dilla name from then on. The Ruff Draft EP followed in 2003 on Mummy Records, and the same year he and Madlib released Champion Sound as Jaylib. In 2004 he moved to Los Angeles.
Final years and legacy
Dilla was treated for thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) and lupus in his last years. Donuts was released on his 32nd birthday, February 7, 2006, and he died of cardiac arrest in Los Angeles three days later. The Shining, about three-quarters finished at his death, was completed by Karriem Riggins and issued by BBE that August. In 2014 his Minimoog Voyager and Akai MPC3000 were donated to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. He is widely cited as one of hip hop’s most influential producers for his drum programming and sampling.
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