James Yancey. One man, many aliases. But no matter how you chose to address him, there was no debating his genius. From his solo material, to his work with Slum Village and later the backbone of the Soulquarians collective; J Dilla’s contributions to music are priceless.
His unique sound is still felt and oft-imitated six years after his death. Emerging on the national scene in the mid-90s, Jay Dee’s warm, fuzzy, and soulful production style instantly made him a top prospect in the industry. The underground took notice, and he was quickly tapped to produce for the likes of A Tribe Called Quest, Janet Jackson and The Pharcyde. He joined The Ummah production team with Q-Tip & Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and soon enough the kid from Detroit was starting to be recognized as a major player in hip-hop.
At the same time, Dilla was ushering in his own group, the Detroit-bred Slum Village, whom many called the successors to A Tribe Called Quest. Dilla never seemed happy with that comparison, however, and always insisted SV was harder-edged and more materialistic than the Native Tongues. Dilla’s programming method was almost a drunken style: heavy on rhythm and percussion and, more often than not, slightly off-beat. It was beautiful yet bizarre, the way he could seamlessly twist and manipulate sounds in his favor, making them his own. The man was a wizard behind the boards. It wasn’t until his death in 2006 at age 32 that the world really took notice and gave the man his proper respect. He was the ultimate producer/artist.
Truth be told, a ‘Best of J Dilla’ list could easily stretch into the hundreds, but in honor of Dilla's birthday, Complex assembled our 50 favorite DIlla joints for your enjoyment. So adjust your headphones and get ready to learn yourself something about one of the most important figures in hip-hop history.
Written by Andrew Barber Follow.
Don't mention it. People should hear Dilla's great music and spread it. SV Tour is same to me actually. I have the 50+ tracks Da 2nd Installment and a 26 track one.
The 26 track one is full of Jaylib and the 50+ has a lot of beats that are on other tapes as well. To be honest I think Dilla never really finished Da 2nd Installment. When you listen to Da 1st, all the beats have electronic drums or really weird crazy hi-hats that sound amazing. They all have that album feel but 2nd hasn't. It does have the intro which clearly says 2nd Installment but the way it ends it's kinda weird.
It's all very random, it's like a compilation of beats he just made. I think most of it was for the Jaylib project and some for Busta and Q-Tip (he only used 1 for Renaissance I think) @ JASPER I have a lot of Dilla tapes, really a lot. I have a lot of beats like 12x cause a lot of the beat tapes have the same beats as other beat tapes. It's very frustrating actually even if it is the great Jay Dee but it's satisfying when you hear just 1 beat between all those albums. You guys have MIX TRACKS, Pay Jay (Not same as Jay $tay Paid), Unreleased Dilla Beats and Unknown? I have them but like most tapes they're in a weird order. A lot of tapes when you download them also have names, there's just a guy who made up the name.
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The Beat Tapes never got names, just tracks. Some tapes aren't even made by Dilla they're just a bunch of tracks thrown together and someone decided to call it let's say MIX TRACKS. Don't mention it. People should hear Dilla's great music and spread it.
SV Tour is same to me actually. I have the 50+ tracks Da 2nd Installment and a 26 track one. The 26 track one is full of Jaylib and the 50+ has a lot of beats that are on other tapes as well. To be honest I think Dilla never really finished Da 2nd Installment. When you listen to Da 1st, all the beats have electronic drums or really weird crazy hi-hats that sound amazing.
They all have that album feel but 2nd hasn't. It does have the intro which clearly says 2nd Installment but the way it ends it's kinda weird.
It's all very random, it's like a compilation of beats he just made. I think most of it was for the Jaylib project and some for Busta and Q-Tip (he only used 1 for Renaissance I think)it might be, but i think that whoever ripped it and put it up, got it mixed up. If you take the 50+ version i think da real deal is the 25 first songs, plus the maybe ten last songs minus the ATCQ joint at the end which is clearly older. However, i only think it sounds random to us because people used the beats as you say. From interviews i read with people like Busta and?uest i get the impression that Dilla would send out these 'treats' (beat tapes) to his friends and artists that requested beats and they could pick from there.
That's why i think it's more aquarate to say that Jaylib, Q-Tip and Busta uses beats originally found on 'Da 2nd Installment', rather than the other way around. It might be, but i think that whoever ripped it and put it up, got it mixed up. If you take the 50+ version i think da real deal is the 25 first songs, plus the maybe ten last songs minus the ATCQ joint at the end which is clearly older. However, i only think it sounds random to us because people used the beats as you say. From interviews i read with people like Busta and?uest i get the impression that Dilla would send out these 'treats' (beat tapes) to his friends and artists that requested beats and they could pick from there. That's why i think it's more aquarate to say that Jaylib, Q-Tip and Busta uses beats originally found on 'Da 2nd Installment', rather than the other way around.Yes, Dilla used to do that all the time until 2001 cause he found out too many people were ripping his shit without permission. I think that was for BEAT CD's en the Tapes tho.
1st Installment was just a instrumental tape and I also think first 25 from 2nd Installment is for his projects but I knew like every beat on there. Dilla stopped the bootlegging by doing something with his beats.
In some beats you can hear DILLA DILLA DILLA BEATS BEATS BEATS in the background. I don't think it really helped but maybe he did the same thing to 2nd Installment, cause you hear The New in a lot of tracks and in the official versions where it's used by artists like Jaylib and Q-Tip it didn't have The New in it all the time, maybe that was to stop bootlegging as well.
Later on he did use it for Donuts in a great way.
Artist/Group Releases 1st Down - A Day Wit The Homiez, 12-inch single (1995) Pay Day Records Slum Village - Fan-Tas-Tic, 12-inch single (1996) Slum Village - Fan-Tas-Tic (Vol. 1), Album (1996) Donut Boy Recordings, (1997) Sudden Impact, (2006) Barak Slum Village - We Be Down 12-inch single (1997) Sudden Impact Jay Dee - Jay Dee Unreleased Remixes, EP (1997) House Shoes Records Slum Village - Somethin' For The People, All I Do (Remix) from All I Do 12-inch single (1997) WB J-88 - Look Of Love (Remix) 12-inch single (1999) Groove Attack Slum Village - Get This Money, 12-inch single (1999) INTERSCOPE Slum Village - Fantastic Vol. 2, Album (2000) Goodvibe (2002) Capitol (2010) Barak Slum Village - Fall In Love (Remix), 12-inch single (2000) Goodvibe Slum Village - Cimax/CB4, 12-inch single (2000) Goodvibe J-88 - Best Kept Secret, EP (2000) Groove Attack Jay Dee - Fuck The Police/Move, feat. Tamil songs free download christian. Frank N Dank, 12-inch single (2001) Up Above Jay Dee feat. Frank-N-Dank - Pause, 12-inch single (2001) BBE Jay Dee - Welcome 2 Detroit, Album (2001) BBE 1st Down - A Day Wit The Homiez, Album (2002) RonnieCash.com Jay Dee - Instrumental Series Vol 1, EP (2002) Bling 47 Jay Dee feat.
MC (Not producer) Tami Hert - If You Were Mine (Detroit Demolition Mix) 12-inch single (1997) 550 Music v/a - Fight Club, feat. Autodata repair times on cars. Dilla, Nottz & Boogie from Best Kept Secret Mix, Album (2003) Bling 47 Dabrye - Game Over 12-inch single (2004) Ghostly International Wale Oyejide - There's A War Going On 12-inch single (2004) Shaman Work Wale Oyejide - There's A War Going On from One Day, Everything Changed, Album (2004) Shaman Work Slum Village - Reunion from Detroit Deli, Album (2004) Barak/Capitol Pete Rock - Niggaz Know from Soul Survivor II, Album (2004) Rapster /BBE v/a - Do Your Thang, Stupid from BR Gunna Presents Dirty District Vol.
J Dilla Welcome 2 Detroit Rar
Production Credits: 1996 5-Elementz - Whutchawant, Feed Back, Rockshows, Party Groove, Janet Jacme, E.G.O., Don't Stop, Searchin from The, Album Time Forgot cassette (1996) That Was Entertainment A Tribe Called Quest - 1nce Again, Get A Hold, Keeping It Moving, Stressed Out, Word Play from Beat, Rhymes, & Life, Album (1996) Jive Records AZ - When The Cheering Stops from NFL Jams (1996) Castle Busta Rhymes - Keep It Movin', Still Shinin' from The Coming, Album (1996) Elektra Busta Rhymes - Woo-Hah!! (Jay-Dee Bounce Remix), Woo-Hah!! (Jay-Dee Other Shit Remix), 12-inch (1996) Elektra Busta Rhymes - It's a Party (Ummah Remix), Ill Vibe (Ummah Remix), 12-inch single (1996) Elektra De La Soul - Stakes Is High from Stakes Is High, Album (1996) Tommy Boy De La Soul - Stakes Is High (Remix) from Itzsoweezee, 12-inch single (1996) Tommy Boy Mad Skillz - It's Going Down, The Jam from From Where??? (1996) Big Beat Kieth Murray - The Rhyme (Remix), Dangerous Ground from Enigma (1996) Jive Natives Of Da Underground - Pack Da Hous/Brotha's Juss Don't Know/Whatcha Gonna Do?, 12-inch single (1996) ALR Phife Dawg - Game Day from NFL Jams (1996) Castle Proof - Da Science from Detroit Hip Hop Volume 1 (1996) Modern Tribe Proof - Vibe Session from Anywhere, 12-inch single (1996) Hip Hop Shop Tha Pharcyde - Runnin', Bullshit, Splatittorium, Somethin' That Means Somethin', Drop, Y?
J Dilla Samples
From Labcabincalifornia, Album (1996) Delicious Vinyl. Production Credits: 1998 A Tribe Called Quest - 4 Moms, Against The World, Busta's Lament, Da Booty, Find A Way, His Name Is Mutty Ranks, Start It Up, Steppin' It Up from The Love Movement, Album (1998) Jive Records A Tribe Called Quest - That Shit from Funkmaster Flex Vol. 3, Album (1998) Loud Records Bizarre - Butterfly from Attack of the Wierdos, EP (1998) Federation Mood - Secrets Of The Sand (Remix) from Snake Backs, 12-inch single (1998) Blunt N'Dea Davenport - Bullshittin (Remix) from N'Dea Davenport, Album (1998) V2. Production Credits: 1999 5 Ela - You Ain't Fresh, Ain't No Love from 5-E Pt.
Youtube J Dilla Instrumental
Production Credits: 2001 Bahamadia - One-4-Teen (Remix) from Summer Sampler, Album (2001) Goodvibe Bilal - Reminisce from 1st Born Second, Album (2001) Interscope Busta Rhymes - Genesis, Make It Hurt from Genesis, Album (2001) Elektra Chino XL - Don't Say A Word from I Told You So, Album (2001) Metro Records De La Soul - Peer Pressure Intro & Outro Monologues by Jay Dee from AOI: Bionix, Album (2001) Tommy Boy Lucy Pearl - Without You (Remix), 12-inch single (2001) Pookie/Virgin Mos Def - Can U C The Pride In The Panther? (Remix), 12-inch single (2001) Interscope Que D - In Yo Face from Still Bangin, single (2001) Up Above and Que D Limited Edition, Album (2003) Royal Flyness Toshi Kubota - Nothin But Your Love (Remix), 12-inch single (2001) Epic. Production Credits: 2003 AS D (Afrob & Samy Deluxe) - Komm Schon from Wer Hatte Das Gedacht?, Album (2003) Eimsbush ASD (Afrob & Samy Deluxe) - Wenn Ihr Fuhlt. Production Credits: 2006-2009 NOTE: CREDITS IN THIS SECTION WERE CREATED DURING THE ARTIST'S LIFETIME Ghostface Killah - Beauty Jackson, Whip You with a Strap from Fishscale, Album (2006) Def Jam Busta Rhymes - You Can't Hold A Torch from The Big Bang, Album (2006) Aftermath Visionaries - All Right from We are the One s (We've Been Waiting For), Album (2006) Up Above Guilty Simpson - Clap Your Hands from, Album (2006) Stones Throw A.G. Hip Hop Quotable, 12-inch single (2006) Look A.G. Hip Hop Quoteable from Get Dirty Radio, Album (2006) Look Madlib - Take It Back from, Album (2006) Stones Throw Guilty Simpson -, 12-inch single (2007) NO LABEL Phat Kat - Cold Steel, 12-inch single (2007) Look Phat Kat - 5 songs from Carte Blanche, Album (2007) Look Guilty Simpson - I Must Love You from, Album (2008) Stones Throw Guilty Simpson - Stress, 12-inch single (2009) NO LABEL Raekwon - House of Flying Daggers, Arson Jones, 10 Bricks from Only Built for Cuban Linx 2, Album (2009) EMI Note: other posthumous production credits, beginning in 2006, not listed here. The listings above were made during the artist's lifetime.
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