Don Blackman X Since You Been Away So Long

SILVER LAKE X LOS ANGELES

Silver Lake is a hilly neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California east of Hollywood and northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Silver Lake is inhabited by a wide variety of ethnic and socioeconomic groups, but it is best known as an eclectic gathering of hipsters, the creative class.The neighborhood was named for Water Board Commissioner Herman Silver, who was instrumental in the creation of the Silver Lake Reservoir, located within the neighborhood.^[2]
Silver Lake contains some of the most famous modernist architecture in North America. Architect Richard Neutra, designer of many homes in the area, built his own home on Silver Lake Boulevard. The house still exists, and is visited by architecture fans and students. Neutra's offices were nearby on Glendale Boulevard. The building signage bears the name of his firm. A block east of Silver Lake Blvd. and near Neutra's home is Neutra Place, home to several homes he designed.

Since the 1990s, Silver Lake has become the center of the alternative and indie rock scene in Los Angeles. The neighborhood is home to two major street festivals each year, the Silver Lake Jubilee,^[11] held in May and the Sunset Junction Street Fair, held in August. The Silver Lake Jubilee, a more recent addition, features live music by local musicians, local artists and community businesses. The Sunset Junction Festival features larger, national musicians and has been the home of musicians such as Andrew McMahon, Autolux, Beck, Beth Hart, Bon Harris, Bret McKenzie, Chuck Ragan, Darker My Love, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Earlimart, Eels, Elliott Smith, The Elected, Eulogies, Giant Drag, Irving, Jane's Addiction, Joey Waronker, Karen O, Local Natives, Lou Barlow, Mia Doi Todd, Mr. Criminal, My Imaginary Friends, Pavement, Piebald, Porno for Pyros, Possum Dixon, Moving Units, The Shore, US President John F. Kennedy, Henry Rollins, Rilo Kiley, 8 Bit Weapon, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Roddy Bottum, Scarling., Sea Wolf, The New Limb, The One AM Radio, Tom Waits and Imaad Wasif. The band Silversun Pickups took its name from the strip mall at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Silver Lake Boulevard. Since the indie rock music scene is particularly prominent in this neighborhood, comparisons are often drawn between Silver Lake and New York City's Williamsburg district. As a result, it is sometimes referred to as the "Williamsburg of the West". Dangerhouse Records was named after a house located on Carondelet Street. Dangerbird Records was founded in Silver Lake, and is currently located in Silver Lake. Silver Lake has also been the home of independent record label Epitaph Records for many years now. Also, it is the setting of the song "From Silver Lake" by Jackson Browne.

During the 1930s, Walt Disney built his first large studio in Silver Lake at the corner of Griffith Park Blvd and Hyperion, now the site of Gelson's Market. A few blocks away on Glendale Blvd was the studio of Tom Mix. The location is now occupied by the Mixville shopping center. It is rumored that Mix buried his steed "Tony, the Wonder Horse" on the property. The neighborhood is crisscrossed by numerous municipal staircases that provide pedestrian access up and down the neighborhood's signature hills. Among these are the Descanso stairs, Redcliffe stairs and the Music Box Stairs. The famous flight of stairs in Laurel and Hardy's film The Music Box are located between lower Descanso Drive and Vendome Street, as it winds up and around the hill. Gentrification has intensified in the neighborhood, including the opening of many stylish independent boutiques, coffee shops, fitness studios, and restaurants.

 

As of 2010, Silver Lake is represented by Los Angeles City Council Members Eric Garcetti and Tom LaBonge and the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council. The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council^[7] was formed in the early 2000s and certified a part of the City of Los Angeles Neighborhood Council system in February, 2003. Its 21-member Governing Board is elected for two-year terms in March. Recent projects have included 'Street Medallions', created by artist Cheri Gaulke, and 'ArtCans' created by several different artists and groups.
The Silver Lake Residents Association,^[8] Silver Lake Improvement Association,^[9] Committee to Save SL's Reservoirs,^[10] the Silver Lake Chamber of Commerce, and Neighbors for Peace & Justice are all active in the area.

MY WIFE ALREADY KNOWS....... LAY ME TO REST IN THE CALI HILLS!

PLATINI - Love is a Battlefield

South Florida artist PLATINI delivers the St. Valentines Day Verbal Massacre with his new installment "Love is a Battlefield"
"This isn't your ordinary mixtape full of happy love songs , its just the total opposite". Featuring production from Mr.Compliment from the Distinguished Chimps , Scrilla Beats , Junior Twine and  J. Dilla (R.I.P ) Kick back and listen to stories of heartbreak and regrets.

ENJOY!

DOWNLOAD NOW:  http://www.mediafire.com/?cbh9qdjn1k19j13

Artist Site - http://platini.bandcamp.com/album/love-is-a-battlefield

Jay Love Japan

Jay Love Japan is an instrumental album by the late J Dilla distributed to retail by the California-based Operation Unknown label in 2008.^[1] It is now out of print.

Promo and semi-official retail versions of the album have circulated for several years, and the album was even given a 2006 release in Japan, although that version is now considered a promotional item.^[who?] It was announced in an issue of the magazine Wax Poetics in 2005 and given various missed release dates in 2006, 2007, and 2008, with a track list containing two songs with other artists' vocals added after Dilla's death.^{[citation needed]} Bill Sharp, an upper level employee of major hip-hop retailer Fat Beats and the webmaster of fatbeats.com, had this to say on the matter:

"We had many thousands of units of Jay Loves Japan [sic] sitting in our warehouse while legalities were worked out with Dilla's estate for nearly one year. There are boots out there, there are imports. The one Fat Beats sells is not a bootleg."^[2]

The album, however, was released onto the iTunes Store on June 26, 2007 under PayJay Productions, Inc.

J Dilla began and possibly completed this album before his death in February 2006. Some say^[who?] that the album was intended as an instrumental EP featuring two guest vocal tracks, whereas the label itself first described it as featuring Raekwon, Blu, Ta'Raach, Truth Hurts, and more, tentatively including Slum Village. The album was distributed by Fat Beats Distribution based in New York. The album has an accompanying video series for the track "Can't You See." An EPK was released as far back as 2005.^[3] Most recent photographs used of J Dilla, such as the inside cover of J Dilla's BBE album The Shining, as well as recent MTV pictures, were Operation Unknown photo sessions for Jay Love Japan.

Make 'em Envy!

Let's do it, worldwide, show that shine
Get the cash, and flash like Kodak blind 'em
If I get the urge to splurge or bling I do it
It's nobody's concern, they ain't got a thing to do with this
Shut the fuck up~! Please believe
I had the boy kneed, out in Philly freeze the sleeves
Givin the "Gangsta Love" like Eve and Keys
The first piece, worshipped by the set of thieves with cheese
And haters think I ain't peep they steeze
Don't think I don't got, peeps that'll squeeze the things
And tryin to be M.O.P. you'll be D.O.A.
Me and my mans and them roll deep (peep)
And we don't play those games, no chain tuckin
Only congratulate if you hate fuck y'all
Rock City down here in the D
Bling bling, it's time to make 'em envy ("make 'em envy!")
Let's do it

Yo I'm like if you hot in 'em what you buyin 'em for?
Get your shine on, it's time to blind 'em all
Don't worry 'bout the haters you can shake they ass
When they can't get they taste of the cake they mad
And these backpackers wanna confuse it
Niggaz is icey ain't got nothin to do with the music
So hater mind your biz and get your own
You know what, time it is we get that glow
Better get your bitch before we hit that dough
We too sick, clique crew thick like colds
And you can respect it or SUCK IT~!
I'm in the booth, chain swingin, soundin like extra percussion
I'm tellin ya cousin, rock your jewels
If anything tucked, there's the pop in full
Just to let 'em know you ain't friendly
Let's sparkle baby, make 'em envy ("make 'em envy!")

Ruff Draft

Ruff Draft is an album by the late former Slum Village member Jay Dee (also known as J Dilla). It was originally released in February 2003 as an EP, by his then-newly founded label, Mummy Records, and distributed by Groove Attack, a German record label. In 2007, Ruff Draft was remastered and re-released as the third official solo album by Stones Throw Records. The re-release sold 8,049 copies in its first week, J Dilla's largest first-week sales as a solo artist.^[1]

The original vinyl release of Ruff Draft is now out-of-print. Although the album is one of Jay Dee's lesser known works, it includes some of his most abstract and experimental work, all self-produced, and recorded in under a week.

As stated in the introduction of the album, it's a noncommercial sounding lo-fi hip hop album, which sees the producer playfully toying with different styles, such as on "Nothing Like This," where his vocals are distorted and skewered over an equally eccentric production featuring a sample played backwards. The result mirrors the more off-center moments on Common's Electric Circus, which Dilla also worked on.
Stones Throw Records re-issued the album on CD and vinyl on March 20, 2007. The re-release is remastered from the original master tapes, with sound engineers taking steps to maintain the original release's integrity, along with additional songs, as well as an instrumental CD.

Jay Dee's Last Days

 

Jay Dee's Last Days

by Kelly Carter

Detroit Free Press

February 25, 2006

The untold story of the noted Detroit hip-hop producer's drive to make music in the face of life-threatening illness

It was near the end of summer 2005, and James Yancey was sitting in a hospital bed at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.

He couldn't walk. He could barely talk. And after spending most of the winter and spring in the hospital, receiving treatment for a rare, life-threatening blood disease and other complications, he had been re-admitted.

His body was killing him, and little could be done about it.

It was a grim prognosis, but it wasn't deterring him from tinkering with his electronic drum machine.

In the sterile white hospital room, the tools of his trade surrounded him: turntables, headphones, crates of records, a sampler, his drum machine and a computer, stuff his mother and friends from L.A.-based record label Stones Throw had lugged to his hospital room. Sometimes his doctor would listen to the beats through Yancey's headphones, getting a hip-hop education from one of the best in the business.

Yancey tampered with his equipment until his hands swelled so much he could barely move them. When the pain was too intense, he'd take a break. His mother massaged his fingertips until the bones stopped aching.

Then he'd go back to work. Sometimes he'd wake her up in the middle of the night, asking to be moved from his bed to a nearby reclining chair so he could layer more hard-hitting beats atop spacey synths or other sampled sounds, his creations stored on computer. Yancey told his doctor he was proud of the work, and that all he wanted to do was finish the album.

Before September ended, he'd completed all but two songs for "Donuts," a disc that hit stores on Feb. 7, his 32nd birthday.

Three days after its release, he died.

Yancey, better known as Jay Dee or J Dilla, is acknowledged as the father of the Detroit hip-hop sound. Some people call him a creative genius, and his streetwise but soulful and musically tight production style influenced some of the world's biggest rap and R&B stars, from Kanye West to Janet Jackson to Erykah Badu, many of whom he worked with.

He was a champion of Detroit's urban music scene, and in the mid-'90s, when hip-hop was dominated by the East and West coasts, he put a distinct Motor City sound on the national map -- and provided inspiration to then-unknowns like Eminem, D12 and his own group, Slum Village.

As his reputation rose, he persisted with his distinct connection to the musical underground, serving as a sort-of people's champion of the non-commercial hip-hop scene.

Just as he was poised for even greater fame, he got sick -- a medical odyssey that would put him in and out of hospitals for the better part of four years, racking up staggering medical bills.

The instigator was a rare and incurable blood disease, but the complications were many, including recurring kidney failure, severe blood-sugar swings, immune system issues, heart trouble and what might have been lupus.

While rumors swirled in hip-hop circles that he was sick, the extent -- and specifics -- of his health concerns were largely kept secret. Yancey was not the type who wanted others to know about his problems. Even some of his closest friends didn't know what he did: Death was soon coming.

Since his death, fans have gathered to mourn his passing and celebrate his legacy, a mood that will continue today at a public Detroit memorial service. And for the first time, those who saw Yancey's struggles first-hand, including his mother and doctor, are talking about his final days.

January 2002: Something's wrong

Yancey first realized something was wrong in January 2002 after coming back from a gig in Europe, two years after Slum Village's first national release, "Fantastic Vol. 2." Instead of going to his home in Clinton Township, he went to his parents' house on Detroit's east side, complaining that he had a cold or the flu.

It was unusual behavior. Even as a kid he'd liked his privacy, but that night he needed to be with his mother, Maureen Yancey, hoping that she could somehow make it all better.

He was sick to his stomach. He had chills. And after he lay down, he said he felt worse.

His mother took him to the emergency room at Bon Secours Hospital in Grosse Pointe. His blood platelet count was below 10. It should have been between 140 and 180. Doctors told his mother they were surprised that he was still walking around.

Soon, a specialist from Harper Hospital would diagnose a thrombotic thrombocytopenic pura or TTP, a rare blood disease that causes a low platelet count. Abnormal cells were eating away the good cells. Doctors told him there was no cure or direct treatment.

Yancey stayed in the hospital for about a month and a half. Within weeks he had to go back for the same thing -- a trend that would continue for more than four years.

Despite the looming health problems, Yancey moved to L.A. about two years after he was diagnosed, determined to make music. Some things went well, including a musical collaboration and friendship with the rapper Common, who became his roommate. But he began to feel worse, and he met with a blood specialist who told him that in order to live, he'd have to endure medications and hospital treatments.

In November 2004, Yancey called his mother and asked if she'd come out to L.A. to help take care of him.

Disease leads to kidney failure

Yancey went into the hospital shortly after his mom arrived, and he stayed until March 2005. His mother, who slept at the hospital, never left his side. She began to take the reins of her son's health issues, which included mounting bills.

He had to take anti-immune and anti-inflammation steroids. A medication designed to suppress his immune system gave him high blood sugar, and he was taken off it.

The TTP also led to kidney failure. His kidneys would shut down, spring back, shut down again. The three-times-a-week, four-hour dialysis treatments were sometimes so painful he had to be unhooked from the machine.

Because he was lying in bed for long periods, his legs swelled, making it difficult to walk. He needed a wheelchair or a walker or cane -- the latter he used when he could get out to the music store to look for records, or to a nearby fruit market to get juice or a 7-Eleven Slurpee, a treat. Sometimes he would forget how to swallow and would have to relearn. He lost 50% of his weight.

"A lot of times, just when we would get ready to get going, he would get sick again," Maureen Yancey said. "He was so tired of going back. It was very sedentary. Just watching him, it was sad at times. He couldn't do what he wanted to."

In 2005, weeks before his 31st birthday, doctors diagnosed something that looked like lupus, a chronic inflammatory disease that can affect the skin, joints, blood and kidneys. His doctor said it was probably what contributed to the low platelet count and the frequent swelling and pain in his hands.

Sure, those long hospital stays had plenty of undesirable consequences. But it was the inability to touch the music, to pick it out of records bins, twist it and create it, that made those long stays feel never-ending.

The hospital bills mount

Even though he had insurance through the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the cost to keep Yancey alive was steep, and he had to pay much of it himself.

Bills for the lengthy hospital stays topped $200,000 each time. Dialysis three times a week cost $1,800. Each once-a-week shot to raise his hemoglobin cost $1,800. He had dozens of prescriptions -- $700, $900 or even $2,000 out of pocket per bottle. He had large co-pays -- one was $6,700 a week -- because he had to see specialists.

His mother, who today gets medical invoices almost daily, has yet to total up the costs. His plan was to make more music -- he had a project lined up with Will Smith -- to pay the bills and leave money to take care of his Detroit-based daughters, Ja-mya Yancey, 4, and Ty-monet Whitlow, 5.

To pay the bills, Maureen says, she'll work the rest of her life if she has to.

A Detroit friend steps in

Mike Buchanan, better known as DJ House Shoes, first met Yancey in the mid-'90s at Street Corner Music in Beverly Hills. House Shoes worked there and Yancey was a wanna-be music producer on the hunt for albums.

After Yancey moved to L.A., their friendship waned. In early 2005, House Shoes heard the rumor that Yancey was in a coma and might not pull through. He booked a flight to L.A. and packed a bunch of CDs -- random beats CDs, a mix-tape CD that House Shoes had recently released and anything else he thought Yancey would want to hear.

He stayed a week, spending every day in the hospital with him.

His friend looked different -- he was smaller and quieter. House Shoes struggled, not wanting to pry too much about the details of his friend's illness.

"I poker-faced it," House Shoes would say a year later. "It was hard as hell."

At his hospitalized birthday celebration, Yancey got cake -- chocolate, his favorite -- from one of his record labels, Stones Throw. He also got a baseball jersey decorated with Detroit street signs.

Then there was a private gift.

House Shoes called about 35 people in Detroit -- some who knew Yancey and others who'd never met him but appreciated his contributions to hip-hop. He had them leave birthday and get-well greetings on his voice mail.

"Man, listen to this crazy message this girl left me," House Shoes said, bringing his cell phone closer to Yancey's ear.

Then he let them play. All 35 messages. There in his hospital bed, Yancey broke down and cried.

Yancey hides his condition

Yancey kept quiet about how bad things really were.

After that early 2005 stint at the hospital -- the one that prompted hip-hop message boards to report he was in a coma -- he granted an interview to hip-hop magazine XXL for its June edition.

In the interview, he denied that he was comatose, and said that he had gotten sick overseas. "As soon as I got back," he told the magazine, "I had the flu or something, and I had to check myself into the hospital. Then they find out I had a ruptured kidney and was malnourished from not eatin' the right kinda food. It was something real simple, but it ended with me being in the hospital."

Only his doctor and his mother knew how bad it really was.

Detroit rapper Proof, like many of Yancey's friends, never wanted to push it.

"We never really got into the sickness thing. I would be like 'How you doing?' He would be like 'Better,' " Proof said.

The Bible provides comfort

Yancey became more spiritual in the last year of his life.

He and his mother studied the story of Job, which tackles the question of why innocent people suffer, and which biblical scholars interpret to be about faith and patience.

"For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me: because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face."

His doctor said he had come to terms with illness.

"He didn't want to be a professional patient," said Dr. Aron Bick, Yancey's L.A.-based hematologist, who also is an oncologist. "The treatment was difficult because he would not want to go to the hospital. He was very intelligent. He said, 'I hear you, doc. But here are my decisions about my own life.'

"I admired that on a human level. He got the medical care he needed. He really did not let his medical situation handicap his life. To him, life came first. He made peace with himself before we even knew it. And then he made peace with his mom."

On his 32nd birthday, Yancey spent the day at his L.A. home.

Roommate Common bought him a birthday cake, chocolate, of course. DJ Peanut Butter Wolf and Madlib, friends from hip-hop's underground, came over with a cake in the shape of a chocolate doughnut, to honor the "Donuts" album, which was released that day.

Their visit was brief, because Yancey felt uncomfortable with people seeing him that way.

They left the cake at the door. Yancey had a small piece. It was all his aching stomach could take.

It hadn't quite been a month since he'd left the hospital, and he'd just learned how to swallow again. Because his voice wasn't strong, he sometimes refused to open his mouth. He was shuffling around his home with a walker -- he'd gotten rid of the wheelchair weeks before.

"At that point I really felt like something was wrong, more so than ever," said Peanut Butter Wolf. "Even a few weeks before that he was in a wheelchair, but he was energetic and showing me music and showing me his equipment and talked about moving all of his equipment that's still in Detroit to L.A."

Still, in spite of the pain, he was happy. His one prayer had been answered. This was the first birthday in four years that he hadn't spent in a hospital.

'It's going to be all right'

In the last days of his life, as he shuffled up and down the hallway, he had heart-to-heart chats with his mother. They were quick. But they were thoughtful.

"You know I love you, right?" he said. "And I appreciate everything you've ever done for me."

"You don't have to say that," she said.

He and his mother had developed a ritual that preceded medical procedures: They'd slap high-fives, an indication that everything was going to be OK.

At home, the day after his birthday, he held his hand up for his mom to meet it in midair.

She was puzzled. There was no procedure that day. Why was he doing this?

He continued to motion for her to high-five him, refusing to stop until her hand met his.

Finally, she relented and gave it to him.

"That's what I'm talking about," he said. "We're in this together. It's all good. You're going to be all right. I promise you it's going to be all right."

The Shining

The Shining is the title of the second official solo album from Hip hop producer and rapper J Dilla, who died February 10, 2006. The Shining was incomplete at the time of J Dilla's passing and was posthumously completed. Discounting the instrumental album Donuts, The Shining was the first full-length solo release by J Dilla (featuring vocals) since Welcome 2 Detroit five years earlier, and as such was highly anticipated. It was released on August 22, 2006 through BBE Records. An instrumental version of the album followed its release shortly afterward.

Background
In the works for many years under working titles such as the rumored Welcome 2 LA, Dilla's manager, Tim Maynor, said in November 2005 that The Shining would come out in February 2006 on BBE and that the Dilla self-titled album would follow in the same year^[1]. As the album was ultimately only 75% complete at the time of J Dilla's passing, his friend and fellow Detroit hip-hop artist Karriem Riggins was entrusted by Dilla's mother for the completion and handling of the record. Riggins himself has indicated that there will be further future releases of Dilla's music in the coming years, stating that "all of his music needs to be heard"^[2].
The album features extensive sampling from horror movie The Shining. A few of the tracks on The Shining are vocal versions of previously heard material such as "So Far to Go" (Donuts track "Bye" revamped and extended to serve as an intended remix to Common's "Go!"). This song was originally to be released by Common during the last quarter of 2005, as part of a Be special edition package. In 2007, an alternate version of "So Far to Go" containing new verses and a new mix was released on Common's Finding Forever album.
Dilla features some of his past collaborators, such as the aforementioned Common, D'Angelo, Madlib, and Black Thought on the LP. The last track, "Won't Do", is the only song to feature Dilla rhyming by himself although he also rhymes on "Baby" together with Madlib and Guilty Simpson. It was also issued as a single (The Shining EP2), accompanied by a video that premiered on December 12, 2006. The video included appearances by Common, Slum Village, will.i.am, Frank-N-Dank, Karriem Riggins, Black Thought, Talib Kweli, and J Dilla's younger brother, John Yancey (aka Illa J).
A promo single called "Love", featuring Pharoahe Monch, was leaked onto the internet sometime in February 2006. The album itself was scheduled for an August 2006 release to allow time for the completion of a bonus DVD that was due to be attached to each retail copy produced by Brian "B. Kyle" Atkins of Okayplayer Films^[3]. Eventually, however, it was decided to release the two separately, with the DVD following the album. To date, the documentary has not been released. The album received generally positive reviews and debuted at #103 in its first week of release according to Billboard. An instrumental version of the album soon followed.

Welcome 2 Detroit

Welcome 2 Detroit
Studio album by J Dilla
Released	February 27, 2001
Genre	Hip Hop
Length	41:04
Label	BBE
Producer	Jay Dee, Karriem Riggins
Professional reviews
Allmusic link The A.V. Club (favorable) link
J Dilla chronology
Welcome 2 Detroit (2001) Vol. 1: Unreleased (2002)

Welcome 2 Detroit is the 2001 debut solo album from Slum Village producer J Dilla (aka Jay Dee). The album followed the group's critically acclaimed Fantastic, Vol. 2, and kicked off BBE's "Beat Generation" series (producer-driven albums). Welcome 2 Detroit was preceded by the 12" single "Fuck the Police", a cut which didn't make the final album although it is considered to be among his best material. The album cemented J Dilla's reputation amongst those in the know as a virtuoso beatmaker.

Overview

As the title suggests Welcome 2 Detroit is a showcase of the talent from J Dilla's hometown, introducing a pre-Slum Village Elzhi on the song "Come Get It", and making room for his longtime 1st Down partner Phat Kat on the appropriately titled "Featuring Phat Kat".
Although it is a solo album, on several cuts, such as the first single "Pause", Dilla takes a backseat and lets others command the mic. He also covers Donald Byrd's "Think Twice", singing the lead vocals (which many may assume to be Dwele, who actually plays bass on the track).
The influential sound for which he's received praises from Questlove (of The Roots) to Pharrell alike, is on full display here. J Dilla provides various moods for his listeners, ranging from grimy hardcore hip hop ("Pause") to electronic psychedelia ("B.B.E."). The track "Rico Suave Bossa Nova" is inspired by Brazilian music legend Sérgio Mendes. As Dilla mentions in the extensive liner notes:

“

I fell in love with Brazilian music the day I listened to a Sérgio Mendes album. We used to have jam sessions in the studio after work was done, (and) one day my mans Karriem Riggins came through. I asked him for "Bossa nova". He gave me exactly what I needed.

”

On "African Rhythms", J Dilla covers the Afro beat group Oneness Of Juju's song of the same name, replaying all the instruments as well as mimicking the spoken introduction.
On the albums outro "One", J Dilla takes a moment to thank all who have helped him in the Hip-Hop industry, including Slum Village, Q-Tip and De La. The Pop band 'N Sync, among many others is also mentioned, indicating to a point around the album's release where Dilla was slated to do a few beats for the act. (This collaboration never materialized.) Both the intro and outro were recorded on a hand-held microphone the night before the turn-in date. An instrumental version of the album was released on August 23, 2005.

Welcome 2 Detroit bares the name "Jay Dee" as well as "J Dilla", and marks the first time Dilla (who up until that point was still known as Jay Dee) officially used the name J Dilla. This change was apparently due to people often confusing Jay Dee with J.D. (Jermaine Dupri), as well as Dilla's love of the soul singer Bill Withers.

James Dewitt Yancey

James Dewitt Yancey (February 7, 1974 – February 10, 2006),[1] better known by the stage names J Dilla and Jay Dee, was an American record producer who emerged from the mid-1990s underground hip hop scene in Detroit, Michigan. According to his obituary at NPR.org, he "was one of the music industry's most influential hip-hop artists, working for big-name acts like A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Busta Rhymes and Common."[2]

Yancey's career began slowly. He has now become highly regarded, most notably for the production of critically acclaimed albums by Common, Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde, and Erykah Badu. He was a member of Slum Village and produced their acclaimed debut album Fan-Tas-Tic (Vol. 1) and their follow-up Fantastic, Vol. 2.[1]

James Yancey was the second oldest of four children including an older brother (Earl), a younger sister and a younger brother, Johnny, also a rapper/producer known as Illa J. The family lived in a house situated near McDougall and East Nevada, off E. 7 Mile in Detroit.[5] He developed a vast musical knowledge from his parents (his mother is a former opera singer and his father was a jazz bassist). According to his mother, he could "match pitch perfect harmony" by "two-months old", to the amazement of musician friends and relatives.[6] He began collecting vinyl at the age of two and would be allowed to spin records in the park, an activity he enjoyed tremendously as a child.[6]

Along with a wide range of musical genres, Yancey developed a passion for hip hop music and formed a rap group called Slum Village with schoolmates T3 (R.L. Altman), and Baatin (Titus Glover) at Pershing High School. He also took up beatmaking using a simple tapedeck as the center of his studio.[1] During these teenage years he "stayed in the basement alone" with his ever-growing collection of records, perfecting his craft. He later told Pete Rock when they met years later that "I was trying to be you."[7]
[edit] Early career

In 1992, he met experienced Detroit musician Amp Fiddler, who was impressed by what Jay Dee was able to accomplish with such limited tools. Amp Fiddler let Jay Dee use his MPC, which he learned quickly. In 1995, Jay Dee and MC Phat Kat formed 1st Down, and would be the first Detroit hip hop group to sign with a major label (Payday Records) - a deal that was ended after one single when the label folded. That same year he recorded 'Yesteryearz' with 5 Elementz (a group consisting of the late Proof, Thyme and Mudd).

By the mid 1990s Jay Dee was known as a major hip hop prospect, with a string of singles and remix projects, for Janet Jackson, Pharcyde, De La Soul, Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest, Q-Tip's solo album and others. The majority of these productions were released without his name recognition, being credited to The Ummah, a production collective composed of Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest, and later Raphael Saadiq of Tony! Toni! Toné!. Under this umbrella, Jay did some of his most big name R&B and hip hop work, churning out original songs and remixes for Janet Jackson, Busta Rhymes, Brand New Heavies, Something For the People, trip hop artists Crustation and many others. This all came off the heels of Jay handling the majority of production on The Pharcyde's album Labcabincalifornia, released in the holiday season of 1995. Jay Dee's largest-scale feat came in 1997 when he produced Janet Jackson's Grammy winning single "Got 'til It's Gone" from The Velvet Rope. The song-writing credit and subsequent Grammy were both given to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
LA-based producer and MC Madlib began collaborating with J Dilla, and the pair formed the group Jaylib in 2002, releasing an album called Champion Sound in 2003.^[1] J Dilla relocated from Detroit to LA in 2004 and appeared on tour with Jaylib in Spring 2004.
J Dilla's illness and medication caused dramatic weight loss in 2003 onwards, forcing him to publicly confirm speculation about his health in 2004. Despite a slower output of major releases and production credits in 2004 and 2005, his cult status remained strong within his core audience, as evident by unauthorized circulation of his underground "beat tapes" (instrumental, and raw working materials), mostly through internet file sharing. Articles in publications URB (March 2004) and XXL (June 2005) confirmed rumors of ill health and hospitalization during this period, but these were downplayed by Jay himself. The seriousness of his condition became public in November 2005 when J Dilla toured Europe performing from a wheelchair. It was later revealed that he suffered from thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, a rare blood disease, and possibly lupus.^[11]

J Dilla died on February 10, 2006, three days after his 32nd birthday and the release of his final album Donuts, at home in Los Angeles, California. According to his mother, Maureen Yancey, the cause was cardiac arrest.^[12]

Swept Away by The Distinguished Chimps

Swept Away by The Distinguished Chimps