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Happy 47th Birthday, Dilla
Enjoy this thread of 10 facts.
RIP Dilla
Enjoy this thread of 10 facts.
RIP Dilla
In his early years, Dilla taught himself how to make beats using only his record player & a tape deck by spending hours alone in his basement.
He presented his demo to Amp Fiddler of Parliament & Funkadelic who was impressed and let him use his Akai MPC, which would be his go to instrument throughout his career. Fiddler later gave the demo to Q-Tip.
His first major song placements came on The Pharcyde- Labcabincalifornia where he produced 6 tracks, including hit singles Runnin & Drop.
Q-Tip added Dilla to the production of Beats, Rhymes & Life where he contributed 5 tracks. He was not individually credited for his work since tracks were credited to the Ummah; him, Q-Tip & Ali Shaheed Muhammad.
Following Fantastic V. 1, Dilla's group Slum Village received immediate comparisons to A Tribe Called Quest. Dilla disagreed because he felt that they represented hanging out in Detroit whereas Tribe were more positive.
In 1998, he formed the Soulquarians with Questlove, D'Angelo & James Poyser. The crew would eventually include the full Roots lineup, Common, Erykah Badu & others. They worked collaboratively on Things Fall Apart, Mama's Gun, Voodoo, Like Water for Chocolate & other projects.
In the early 00s he recorded or contributed to a several shelved or unsuccessful major label releases. This left him wanting to record only for independent labels, including Stones Throw, BBE & Groove Attack.
Jaylib- Champion Sound, his collaborative album with Madlib was recorded without either artist being in the studio together. Dilla recorded in Detroit while Madlib recorded in LA.
29 of 31 tracks Donuts were completed while hospitalized. Friends & family would bring him albums and he used just a record player & sampler to record the tracks.
While recording Donuts, his body including his fingers would swell. His mother, Maureen "Ma Dukes" Yancey, would massage his fingers until he felt comfortable using them again.
He passed 3 days after releasing Donuts.
He passed 3 days after releasing Donuts.
Bonus: He passed with an estimated 150 unreleased tracks and several hard to find, out of print releases. His posthumous and re-issued projects include The Shining, Jay Loves Japan, & Yancey Boys, a collab project with brother Illa J.
