Feb. 7 2025, marks what would’ve been J Dilla’s 51st birthday. Nineteen years after his passing, the producer-rapper's impact can still be felt across the music world.
During his time on this Earth, he influenced acts like A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip, a hero who eventually became his peer. He’d also reorient the feel, pulse and rhythm of music as he made crucial contributions to hip-hop as part of the Soulquarians collective.
Questlove once described Dilla as “the music god that music gods and music experts and music lovers worship.”
To this day, old and new fans alike are still mesmerized by the beats he crafted, leaving a legacy of music that’s intricate, progressive and rich.
In his honor — along with February 7 now being recognized as “Dilla Day” in the producer’s home city, Detroit — we reached out to a handful of artists and music industry figures to speak about what Dilla meant to them.
From fellow producers like Sango and Swarvy to rappers Nappy Nina and Cavalier, here’s what they had to share.
Kaelin Ellis
I’m sure many people will share what Dilla means to them musically. But my understanding of Dilla came at a time when I was still finding my way — still figuring out what I truly wanted. Then, I stumbled across a Jay Dee instrumental on YouTube.
Dilla wasn’t just someone who understood music — he embodied it. Understanding everything — the fire patterns, the rhythms, the taste — it all comes from what you like and blending it with what you enjoy. Dilla showed me that music is more than sound; it’s a bridge to everything. That realization shaped me in ways I didn’t expect.
For that, I’m forever grateful for J Dilla’s influence and his legacy in hip-hop history.
Simply, thank you, Jay Dee.
Sango
Dilla has had a big impact on my life, starting when I was about five years old. One of the first albums I remember hearing in the house was Beats, Rhymes and Life by A Tribe Called Quest. It was always in my dad’s CD crate, and I spent a lot of time staring at the cover and listening to it. One song on that album, “Get a Hold,” became one of my favorites. By the time I was 15, I realized it was produced by Dilla, and that discovery changed everything for me.
Dilla is my favorite producer of all time. As someone from Michigan, I feel a deep connection. His influence on my creative journey is everything. The way he would put out instrumental projects became the blueprint for my career as Sango. That’s how I wanted to set myself apart — not just as a producer, but as an artist like him.
My favorite Dilla project is The Shining. I remember listening to it as a high schooler in Michigan, shoveling driveways during the snowy winters. That album was the soundtrack to those moments, and it’s always stayed with me.
If I had to describe Dilla in one word, it would be passion.
Thank you for inviting me to be part of this. It’s an honor.
Swarvy
Dilla is the first person I think of when I think of a true love for music. You can tell how deep his appreciation was for all kinds of musicianship and genres because his body of work displays that so well. It's as if you can feel him smiling through the speakers when you hear his music.
I'm always inspired by people who are in love with their passion. Dilla is one of those artists that, because of how true and dedicated he was to his craft, there's an endless well of inspiration in the work he left behind for anyone willing to tap into it.
My favorite Dilla production is probably "Dynamite!" by The Roots.
Nappy Nina
J Dilla is a possibility model for artists trying to create their own sonic imprint. To this day, we call out music [that] sounds like Dilla but not quite (it can’t be copied), we reference the “Dilla Siren,” and nod extra deeply when his cuts come on in the spaces we visit. We talk about how no one will ever be able to do it the way he did. His legacy is everlasting through the folks he’s influenced. J Dilla continues to have a hand in how I make shit, which pockets I choose, the drums I lean toward. I don’t have a favorite Dilla project but I often wish I was a part of the magic that the Soulquarians made, and “Hold Tight” by Slum Village — produced by Dilla — is on my most played tracks list yearly.
Cavalier
Dilla’s influence on our wave is undeniable. Many that would call themselves “Dilla babies” have become the very producers and beat makers who are behind the production of some of the most memorable works from myself and many of your faves, and not just in rap either. I'm bad with favorites, but if I had to pull a Dilla song … [it] would be "Fuck the Police."
Bilal
If I could describe Dilla with one word, it would be subtle. The subtle details that he put in his beats is what made them just so creative and different. The shadow kicks, the landscaping keyboards over [the] top [of] the groove. It was just certain things that he would add to the shadows that made the beat incredible.
Count Bass D
J Dilla is on a list of instrumentalists I call the “Generational Js.” You got John Coltrane from the Greatest Generation; Jimi Hendrix from the Silent Generation; Jaco Pastorius as a boomer; and James Dewitt Yancey representing Generation X. He influenced my style because his music is soul music. Detroit has the best gospel scene and you don't get soul without gospel. Matter of fact, when I first heard his music for the first time, I said, “This guy got to play organ,” because I could hear the left foot in his baseline. Vintage is my favorite project of his, and specifically “Earl,” because I can — and I have — listened to that track for days straight. So in one word, J Dilla is a juggernaut, and it ain't going to be another one. So God bless his soul.
Illa J
My brother, James Dewitt Yancey, aka J Dilla aka Dilla Dog Dilla. What he means to me is just an amazing big brother and also an amazing human being. Someone who not only cared about his family, really cared about his friends, and even a stranger on the street — the type of person who would take his shirt off his back and give it to someone. And obviously, musically amazing — just a genius, and really inspired me to want to be the best at my craft in whatever I pursue. And not only that, to not be afraid to do it my own way.
He affected my path, obviously, the biggest way, because just him not being here, missing all those conversations, being the only two people in our family really having an actual music career outside of my dad. So I would've loved to have all those conversations with my bro. So it affected me in that way, but I had to learn how to do it on my own, and I know his spirit was always there guiding me. When it comes to music, I have so many songs of his that I love, so it's hard for me to pick a favorite song. It'll be different every time. But I will say I just love the swing of his music, the swing and the feel. One word to describe my brother: pure. That's it, Dilla.
JWords
One thing I learned about Dilla was that he created his own style and that he paved his own way. He made it possible for me to be able to do the same thing.
One of my favorite projects from Dilla is what he did with Slum Village.
One word I would use to describe Dilla is, “unique.”
Suzi Analog
Jay Dee, J Dilla — the most prolific beatmaker of modern times. As a beatmaker myself [and] a producer, songwriter, how this person's imagination and just sheer innovation of machines to technology like vinyl — of which he has many amazing records of his own — has changed the world and shifted how we even listen and hear hip-hop. I teach Dilla in my classes as a music professor at UNC in my beatmaking lab. We study his techniques. His techniques are studied around the world, and he was a sound scientist. He wasn't just a musician; he was a sound scientist. And especially with sampling, with chopping, he innovated, and he inspired us to live in our own worlds and bring that out sonically and really convey more than just the sound of music, but communicate with music as a language. And so I really thank Jay Dee for that, and I thank him for the inspiration that he's left and how he put us on to Detroit.
DJ 47Chops (HiTech)
J Dilla has definitely influenced my life and creativity in a way that makes me — when it comes on the creative side, to incorporate human spontaneity and embrace the fact that it's not perfect, and also to taking that over to my life and embracing that as well. Embracing the imperfections.
Goya Gumbani
J Dilla is my GOAT. J Dilla is the GOAT. He has just made me want to make music in the most obscure way, and that's the most truest and honest to myself. There's a level of just growing as a human and as an artist, and they both coexist and never fitting inside of a box because music is not meant to be that, art is not meant to be that. And he's the definition of not allowing that to happen. That's why he's my GOAT. That's why he's the GOAT. The influence he had is crazy because I collect a lot of records and I just end up finding these crazy b-cuts or these crazy b-side tracks that Dilla did the remix to, or I can hear the influence that he's had on someone just so random, and I'm just like, “Yo, I know where that technique is from. That technique feels familiar.”
Then you just come to find out that they've also been influenced by just his humanization of laying drum patterns or cutting samples up and putting them back together in a way that's like, they shouldn't make sense, but sonically it feels right and it sounds right. The influence is deep.
My favorite J Dilla track is this track called “Purple.” He did a remix for this band called Crustation from Bristol in the United Kingdom. It’s a trip-hop band that made one album; I think the album's called Bloom or something. Anyway, he did the remix for “Purple,” and “Purple” is one of [those] songs that I put it on — if I'm in a room and someone's like, “Yo, play a song,” and it's a really relaxed vibe, I'm like, “All right, I got the perfect song that everyone in this room is gonna entwine in this sonic moment.I would definitely recommend that song to anyone that hasn't heard it, and if you have heard it, play it again. Play it for the whole month. Play it for the whole month just because, you know what I mean? RIP to the GOAT. Happy Dilla Month to the GOAT, and thank you for inspiring many of us from the 2000s to this very moment. There's people in 2025 — I'm still hearing that pull and push snare technique, and I'm like, “We're still going strong.” So thank you, man. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you
source https://www.okayplayer.com/producers-remember-j-dilla
Comments
Post a Comment