In his brief 32 years on earth, the Detroit musician born Jay Yancey accomplished quite a lot: thousands of studio recordings, collaborations with game-changing rappers and mainstream stars, a dazzling reputation in the hip-hop underground.
But in death, it seems increasingly clear, the prolific producer known as J Dilla has achieved something even greater:
Immortality.
Amid an ever-growing mythology and stature around the world, Dilla?s music, life and legacy will be celebrated with a hometown Dilla Day, including a Friday night concert at the Fillmore Detroit featuring artists such as Busta Rhymes and Jay Electronica.
It was six years ago this week that Dilla succumbed to a lengthy and brutal battle with a rare blood disease and lupus, which in his final two years left him wheelchair bound when he wasn?t hospitalized.
Dilla was certainly exalted by the hip-hop cognoscenti during his career, thanks to the pioneering music he created for artists such as A Tribe Called Quest, D?Angelo, Slum Village and others, along with his own four-star solo albums. In-the-know fans regarded him as a musical savant, capable of bending samples into dizzying new shapes while meshing live instrumentation and deceptively complex rhythms. His instrumental tracks were hailed as sonic masterpieces, stitched with a craftsman?s skill and finessed with musical soul.
But it?s only since his 2006 death that the Dilla legend has truly snowballed, a kind of folk phenomenon in a globalized, electronically linked world. Annual ?Dilla Days? have mushroomed across the globe ? New York, Los Angeles, Moscow, London. Record traders consider him one of the most bootlegged artists in hip-hop history, and leaks of his unreleased tracks send the Internet into periodic frenzies. Even his name and image have become hot items, emblazoned on everything from skateboards to cigarette lighters, mostly from manufacturers unaffiliated with the Dilla estate.
?Today you can wear his face on a shirt around the world, and everybody knows who he is,? says Detroit rapper-producer Chuck Inglish, one half of the duo Cool Kids. Some Dilla friends and colleagues draw comparisons to figures such as Bob Marley, Kurt Cobain, even Dale Earnhardt ? personalities whose deaths only served to make them larger than life.
?He?s known as the greatest hip-hop producer in history ? that?s how he?s becoming revered,? says Jonathon Taylor, head of the new Yancey Media Group (YMG), official caretaker of the Dilla legacy. ?He?s now being viewed in the way that Hendrix is viewed in the world of rock ?n? roll guitar.?
Celebrating Dilla day
If you hopped online this morning and glanced at Twitter, you?d have seen it in action: Feb 7 is Dilla?s birthday, and the tributes and remembrances poured in from hip-hop fans across the globe ? thousands of tweets, often dozens by the minute ? as the term ?Dilla? became one of Twitter?s hottest trending topics.
At least two key factors lie behind the growing Dilla phenomenon. There?s the familiar romanticization that comes to artists who die young, the enduring mystique of a genius cut down in his prime. And there?s the simple matter of exposure: As his music has spread virally ? touted by the likes of Kanye West and often circulated via breathless online leaks ? legions of new fans have become acquainted with the Dilla canon.
Aspiring producers, including those at a Berklee College of Music class dedicated to his work, scrutinize his tracks, seeking to unlock the artistry behind it all.
?People who discover Dilla get really into him,? says Inglish. ?There are very few artists where you hear one song and want to go back and hear everything they ever made. Dilla is one of those.?
?He was a magician. People continue to pick up on that, and so it?s getting mythologized,? says Gamall Awad, a New York publicist who represented Dilla for several album releases in the early 2000s. ?And I don?t see that slowing down. I see it expanding.?
Still, Awad calls it bittersweet.
?Everybody is happy to see that he?s being recognized posthumously. It?s great that his influence is spreading,? he says. ?But you can?t help wishing that it had happened more so when he was alive.?
Protecting Dilla's identity, legacy
YMG was formed last year by Dilla?s mother, Detroiter Maureen (Ma Dukes) Yancey, in an effort to wrangle and streamline a Dilla legacy that seemed to be spiraling out of the family?s control.
?We needed a structure that could protect and gatekeep his identity and legacy,? says Taylor, a longtime family friend. He says the group will ?groom the Dilla legacy in the manner of Miles Davis,? overseeing album releases and merchandise, enforcing the artist?s copyrights and likeness, and curating 1,000-plus unreleased Dilla tracks stored on tapes and digital drives.
Taylor says there?s a duty to maintain the integrity associated with the Dilla name. ?This is sacred ground,? he says. ?I have a major responsibility with this man?s catalog. There are a lot of people who will be holding me accountable here.?
This week kicks off a new, formal chapter in the Dilla story: Friday brings the Fillmore show and a website launch ? OfficialJDilla.com ? with a new record in the wings. ?Rebirth of Detroit? features hometown rappers such as Danny Brown and Guilty Simpson performing to previously unreleased Dilla tracks, and will be released in late May at Detroit?s Movement festival.
It may be that Dilla is finally achieving the mainstream stature that had largely eluded him during life.
?Now you?ve got people in the Philippines who are worshiping Dilla,? says Detroit rapper Beej. ?I believe he was close to becoming that next big producer with a household name, on that very top mainstream level. There?s no telling what would have happened if he was still here.?
Contact BRIAN McCOLLUM: 313-223-4450 or mccollum@freepress.com
Dilla Day Detroit
With Busta Rhymes, Jay Electronica, Asher Roth, Phife Dawg, Phat Kat, Danny Brown, Guilt Simpson, DJ J-Rocc, DJ Dez, Fat Ray, Chuck Inglish, Nick Speed and others.
8 p.m. Friday
The Fillmore Detroit, 2115 Woodward, Detroit
313-961-5450
$38
Dilla Day Detroit Youth Day
Art exhibit, documentary screening, interactive activities
Noon to 5 p.m. Saturday
Virgil H. Carr Cultural Center
311 E. Grand River Ave., Detroit
313-965-8430
Free
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