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Producer/emcee Jay Dee dies
Widely regarded as one of the most skilled producers in the game, J Dilla's passing comes a week after the release of his latest album, Donuts.
Renowned Detroit hip-hop producer and emcee Jay Dee--also known as J Dilla--died today in a Los Angeles hospital, according to his record label, Stones Throw Records. He was 32.
Jay Dee's
Donuts was released last week
The exact cause of death has not yet been confirmed, but Dilla was believed to be suffering from a kidney-related illness for some time, dating back to 2004. Speculation has surrounded his ill health for some time and reportedly he has been hospitalized several times in the past year.
Jay Dee's passing comes just a week after the release of his latest album, Donuts, a selection of sample-driven, hip-hop instrumental tracks that he created while recuperating from the mystery ailment to which he eventually succumbed.
Dilla, born James Yancey, was a founding member of Detroit's Slum Village who went on to record several solo albums and 2003's Champion Sound with Madlib in a group called Jaylib.
But even more than his solo efforts, the beatmaker was as well-regarded as any producer in hip-hop, with some artists, like ?uestlove from The Roots and Pharrell of The Neptunes, calling him their own favorite producer and one of the greatest of all time.
J-Dilla produced tracks on an array of albums in the late 1990s and early 2000s, including Beats, Rhymes and Life from A Tribe Called Quest, Stakes is High from De la Soul, Q-Tip's Amplified, Erykah Badu's Mama's Gun, and, most recently, Common's Grammy-nominated Be in 2005.
In a 2004 interview with Urb magazine, J Dilla disclosed that he had kidney problems as a result of malnutrition.
"What happened was that the doctor told me that I'd ruptured my kidney from being too busy and being stressed out and not eating right," J Dilla told Urb. "He told me that if I'd waited another day, I might not have made it."
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