On February 10, 2007, exactly one year after J Dilla’s death, Brooklyn’s Galapagos Art Space hosted “Donuts Are Forever,” a tribute night featuring Pharoahe Monch and DJ Scratch.
The line stretched around the block, and heads were turned away due to overcrowding.
One week earlier, in London, a group of DJs, including 4Hero’s Marc Mac, participated in “J Dilla Changed My Life,” a tribute/benefit that raised $5,000 and brought in more than 750 supporters.
Such is the impact that Dilla (born James Yancey) continues to have on the hip-hop scene more than a year after his death from lupus complications. With a clothing line, numerous releases and posthumous awards (the Detroit producer picked up Artist of the Year and Record Producer of the Year at the 2007 PLUG Awards) contributing to a mini-empire, Dilla’s lasting legacy proves that, oddly enough, 2007 may have been the artist’s busiest year to date.
Although Donuts, the 2006 instrumental album that will go down as Dilla’s final official completed work, remains the biggest-selling Stones Throw release, it’s far from his last. In addition to a track on Common’s upcoming Finding Forever, check for the reissue of Jaylib’s Champion Sound (with Madlib) and Jay Loves Japan, featuring guest rappers rhyming over Dilla beats, in the near future. Sadly, there are still no plans to release the permanently shelved MCA debut Dilla made after leaving Slum Village.
A different but equally important Dilla awareness program continues this year with eight Dilla T-shirts on sale to benefi t the J Dilla Foundation. The foundation, started and run by his mother, Maureen Yancey, helps raise money for lupus research and arts education and, through Web sites such as www.jdilla.org, continues to spread the producer’s legacy.
“A lot of producers are pigeonholed into one sound,” says Derreck Johnson of Rare Form, the organizers of Donuts Are Forever. “Dilla mastered the art of being versatile and molding himself to each artist he worked with, but at the same time, he was always so raw. He was the definition of hip-hop.”
More and more people seem to agree every single day.
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