he Brooklyn Bodega and The Room Service Group host celebration for the late Jay Dee aka J Dilla
October 2, 2006
On November 1st Brooklyn Bodega, The Brooklyn
Brewery and The Room Service Group will host a
fundraiser for producer and composer James Yancey
aka Jay Dee or J Dilla. Jay Dee passed away in
February of 2006 of complications from Lupus, a
common blood disease. He was best known as 1/3 of
Detroit’s Slum Village and creative partner of Q-Tip
from A Tribe Called Quest. Jay Dee along with Q-Tip
and Ali Shaheed Muhammad made up the Ummah who
produced the last two Tribe records as well a slew of
records for Busta Rhymes and others.
Jay Dee also worked with Chicago MC Common and
produced his biggest hit. “The Light.” Along with The
Roots’ ?uestlove and James Poyser, Jay Dee
produced Common’s Like Water For Chocolate
and
Electric Circus albums.
Though not well known outside of certain circles Jay
Dee was responsible for even more hits including Q-
Tip’s solo smashes “Vivrant Thing” and “Breathe and
Stop.” “Runnin” by The Pharcyde, “Stakes Is High”
by De La Soul as well as various tracks from Erykah
Badu, D’Angelo, Black Star, Bilal, Royce da 5’9”,
Dwele, Janet Jackson, and Ghostface.
However Jay Dee’s crowning achievement was his
work with his own group, Slum Village. His work on
Fantastic Vol. 1 and Fantastic Vol.2 was the
blueprint for the post Native Tongue sound that
spawned Little Brother and others. Later he
partnered with kindred soul Madlib under the name
Jaylib and created the classic Champion
Sound.
Room Service Group president Wes Jackson
adds, “Jay Dee was one of the most prolific and
important producers of our time. His impact on the
industry is grossly understated. He was not only a
king in the ever critical underground scene, but he
was also able to produce bona fide hits without
losing an inch of artistic integrity. His influence
touches cats from T.I. all the way to The Strange
Fruit Project.”
The celebration on November 1st is designed both to
celebrate Jay Dee’s life and accomplishments, but
also raise money to fight Lupus by donating the
profits to the Dilla Foundation. The Dilla Foundation
is run by Jay Dee’s mother and works toward
educating the worked about the disease. As
opposed to other celebrity driven events, the Bodega
celebration will be driven by the fans. The Bodega
has been collecting as much of Jay Dee’s catalog as
they can find and will have it on hand at the
Brewery. Whether it be CD, vinyl, or mp3 fans will be
able to request their favorite Jay Dee production or
verse. In addition the complete discography will be
annotated by the Bodega editorial staff and will
hopefully educate fans on Jay Dee’s extensive
catalog.
“We will also be filming the event and hope to turn
the entire night into a tangible DVD and/or book that
will help document Jay’s powerful voice,” added
event co-curator and Bodega writer Jake Perry. “We
are going to set up a wall where we people can send
a shout out to Jay Dee and then we are going to
send those as well as written remembrances to his
mom to let her know how much we loved her son.”
The Brooklyn Brewery will be hosting the event,
donating their fine lagers and ales to the for the
night. There is a $10 suggested donation to attend,
$20 at the door will get you entry and a free limited
edition t-shirt.
Room Service and Brooklyn Bodega are also teaming
up to produce their 5th Annual CMJ Showcase taking
place on October 31st at BB King’s Times Square.
The lineup includes Prince Paul and the Ill Out
Show,
as well as CL Smooth, AG, the
Juggaknots, Mojoe,
Chen Lo, Nemiss and others. More
confirmations are
expected this week.
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