James Dewitt Yancey (J Dilla)
Your favorite producer's favorite producer
J Dilla
A timeline of J Dilla's life.
- 1974 - Born on February 7th
- 1992 - Meets Detroit native musician Amp Fiddler, who is very impressed by what Dilla is able to accomplish with such limited tools
- 1995 - Forms the group 1st Down with fellow Detroit rapper Phat Kat and become the first Detroit hip-hop duo to sign with a major record label ( PayDay Records ). Later that year the label would go under
- Also in 1995 - He records the "Yester Years EP" with the Elementz ( a group consisting of Proof, Thyme, and Mudd )
- 1996 - He forms the group Slum Village along with T3 and Baatin.They record the groups debut album Fan-Tas-Tic ( Vol.1 )
- 1997 - Fan-Tas-Tic ( Vol.1 ) is released.it quicky belcomes popular with fans of Detroit hip-hop and also gains the attention of Q-Tip, who hailed the group as successors to A Tribe Called Quest. However, J Dilla felt uncomfortable with the comparison and voiced it in serveral interviews
- By the mid-90's - JAY DEE was known as a major hip-hop prospect, with a string of singles and remix projects for acts such as Janet Jackson, De La Soul, Pharcyde, Busta Rhymes, A Tribe Called Quest and Q-Tip's solo project amongst 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 Muhammd of A Tribe Called Quest and later Raphael Saadiq of Tony! Toni! Tone!
- 2000 - Marked the major label debut of Slum Village with Fantastic,Vol.2 creating a new folowing for Jay Dee as a producer and a MC. He was also a founding member of the production collective known as The Soulquarians( along with ?uestlove,D'Angelo,and James Poyser amongst others ) which earned him more recognition and buzz
- 2001 - He debuts as a solo artist with the single "Fuck the Police ( Up Above Records ) followed by the album "Welcome 2 Detroit" which kicked off the British independent record label BBE's "Beat Generaton" series
- also in 2001 - Jay Dee began using the name "J Dilla"( an attempt to differentiate himself from Jermaine Dupri also goes by J.D. ) and left Slum Village to prusue a major label solo career with MCA Records
- 2002 - Dilla produces Frank-N-Dank's 48 Hours as well as a solo album, but neither record would ever be released, although the former did eventually surface through bootlegging
- 2003 - J Dilla and L.A. based producer Madlib combine to form the group JayLib and release the album Champion Sound
- 2004 - J Dilla relocates from Detroit to Los Angeles.Dramatic weight loss due to medication and illness forcing him to publicly confirm speculation about his health
- 2005 - Publications such as 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 of 2005 when J Dilla toured Europe in a wheelchair. It was later revealed that he suffered from thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura ( a rare blood disease ) and possibly lupus
- 2006 - James Dewitt Yancey better known as J Dilla passes away on February 10th just three days after his 32nd birthday and the release of his final album Donuts, at his home in Los Angeles,Ca. According to his mother, Maureen Yancey, the cause of death was cardiac arrest
"J Dilla was a master."