For those who dont know...

James Dewitt Yancey (February 7, 1974–February 10, 2006), better known as J Dilla or Jay Dee was an American hip hop producer and emcee, who emerged from the mid-1990s underground hip-hop scene in Detroit, Michigan. Dilla embodied the neo- soul sound and had a major influence on his peers during the mid 90's to 2000's. He began as a member of Ummah, a production team for personal friends of his A Tribe Called Quest (another favorite of mine). His breakbeat, heavy hip hop and "no frill" style of making music was being recognized by the hip hop community. Pharrell Williams named Dilla his favorite producer and was highly acknowledged as a producer's producer by Kanye West and Just Blaze. Pharrell was asked about his favorite hip-hop producer during a BET interview in 2004 he replied, “You may not know his name, but J Dilla, Jay Dee from Detroit.” Of Course the interviewer had no idea. A large collection of his work, mostly unused beats and instrumentals , remains unreleased, and have been circulating around through the internet, impressing hip hop fans and upsetting record companies. Amp Fiddler, a friend of Dilla who played a funk/soul stlyle of music helped Jay master the MPC machine, large improvement from an old school tape deck. Jay got together with T3 and Baatin, friends from highschool, forming Slum Village who were quick to release their first album Fan-Tas-Tic Vol. 1. Jay immediately began spending his days and nights producing music. His skills instrumentally was noticed by the entire music industry and Dilla began producing beats for artists such as The Pharcyde, Busta Rhymes, Keith Murray (Def Squad), De La Soul, Janet Jackson, Macy Gray, D'Angelo, A Tribe Called Quest, Erykah Badu and N'Dea Davenport. In 1999 Dilla became part of The Soulquarians, which included Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson of The Roots, James Poyser a keyboardist out of Philly and D’angelo. Jay produced a substantial amount of Common’s 2000 release “Like Water for Chocolate” which not only went gold but also secured Dilla a record deal with MCA Records for his McNasty label. While collaborating with a number of artists like Madlib and Pete Rock, rumors began circulating about Dilla's health. Unfortunately for the most part the rumors were true, Jay was hospitalized in ICU with complications from Lupus Nephritis, an autoimmune disease that attacks the bodies cells and tissue. Dilla began working straight out of hospital bed from a portable sound system including a turntable, samplers, and small boxes of vinyl brought in by friends and family. Here began the foundation for what soon turned into his famous beat instrumental album "Donuts". The amount of Jay's discography is unheard of and I would be here forever listing off albums, I'll post a link or list of his work in a later post. It was in 2005 when concerns regarding Dilla's health began emerging while he was touring Europe as sick as anyone could possibly imagine, and check this, performing out of a wheel chair! On February 10, 2006 at his home in Los Angeles, California James Dewitt Yancey passed away due to kidney complications associated with lupus. "Donuts" was released just three days earlier.