Dilla Days: February 10th

Continuing on with the month-long "Dilla Days" series, and in remembrance of the four year anniversary of J Dilla's untimely passing, here are two more joints for you to reminisce over. Starting off is the cut "Keep It Moving" which Dilla produced as part of The Ummah production crew for A Tribe Called Quest's 1996 release of Beats, Rhymes, & Life. "Keep It Moving" has always been a favorite of mine as it seems to evoke this incredible feeling in my soul and is very inspirational. Secondly is a joint Elzhi recorded sometime between 1997 - 2004 for his Witness My Growth mixtape back in 2006. "Love It Here" features Elzhi's incredible wordplay over an instrumental I've heard a hundred times from Dilla, but for the life of me can't seem to remember which album it was on. I hope you all enjoy these as much as I do.

Rest in Peace Dilla, I never personally knew you but I sincerely miss you and wish you were still here.

Download: A Tribe Called Quest - "Keep It Moving" (Prod. by J Dilla)
Download: Elzhi - "Love It Here" (Prod. by J Dilla)

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Dilla Days: February 6th

Rolling along with the sixth installment of Dilla Days, I've chosen another highly potent pair of productions for you to enjoy. The first joint is "Pause," which was the lead single on Dilla's 2001 incredible solo debut album Welcome 2 Detroit. The single which Jay produced but did not to perform on, instead features his good friends Frank-N-Dank who, "brace the horn-laced track with suitably over-the-top braggadocio". And finishing up for day six is the title track off of Florida-based MC Dynas' sophomore album The Apartment, which was released just last year. The production from Jay on this song was previously unheard to most, but has been said to be found on one of his older beat tapes.

Download: J Dilla feat. Frank-N-Dank - "Pause"
Download: Dynas - "The Apartment" (Prod. by J Dilla)

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Dilla Days: February 5th

Continuing on with the fifth of twenty-eight days dedicated to James "J Dilla" Yancey is another pair of creations that are sure to keep your head nodding. Starting off is a track most of you are probably familiar with from the Jaylib collaboration album Champion Sound. The Talib Kweli assisted cut "Raw Shit" represents exactly what the title of the song says and is yet another example of Dilla's versatile production styles. Secondly, we have a song I don't know a lot about other than it's extreme dopeness. The song is called "I Must Love You" and for whatever reason was the only Dilla production featured on Guilty Simpson's album Ode To The Ghetto. Anyways, the beat is absolutely nuts and if you haven't heard it I would highly recommend that you take a few seconds to check it out.

Download: Jaylib feat. Talib Kweli - "Raw Shit" (Prod. by J Dilla)
Download: Guilty Simpson - "I Must Love You" (Prod. by J Dilla)

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Dilla Days: February 4th

Kicking things off on a similar note to day one, I bring to you another Dilla banger that was produced almost fifteen years ago, yet still sounds better than over half of the stuff coming out today. Just another testament to how far ahead of the time he was with creating timeless hip-hop classics. This time around, off long-time collaborator Busta Rhymes' 1996 solo debut album, The Coming, is the song "Keep It Moving". The track features Busta's former crew Leaders of the New School, which some of you older heads and young rap history students may remember. And last but not least, to complete the fourth day of Dilla Days is one of my all time favorite De La Soul songs, "Through Ya City". This funky, feel-good joint went on to be the third official single off of De La's fifth album AOI: Mosaic Thump and was also featured in the Jon Favreau directed film, Made.

Download: Busta Rhymes feat. Leaders of the New School - "Keep It Movin'" (Prod. by J Dilla)
Download: De La Soul - "Thru Ya City" (Prod. by J Dilla)

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Dilla Days: February 3rd

Moving forward with the third installment of "Dilla Days", I have provided a new pair of Dee-licious slappers that you may or may not have heard. Firstly we have another remix, but this time for Common's Grammy nominated classic, "The Light", which can be found on his 2000 LP Like Water For Chocolate. Those familiar with the original song are already aware that it was produced by Dilla and was basically flawless, but he and Common also decided to remix the track featuring additional vocals by Erykah Badu and was then released by Motown Records as a single for the Bamboozled OST. And secondly is another classic in my book, "The Look Of Love Pt. 1", which was recorded in Dilla's home studio circa 1996/97 for Slum Village's debut album Fan-Tas-Tic Vol. 1. Later on in 2000, the song was re-released on the Best Kept Secret album from J-88 (alias of Slum Village), just prior to Dilla's temporary departure from the group.

Download: Common feat. Erykah Badu - "The Light (Remix)"
Download: Slum Village - "The Look Of Love Pt. 1"

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Dilla Days: February 2nd

Continuing on with the second day of this month's "Dilla Days" series we have another pair of Dilla produced joints. First off, from the universally acclaimed and probably most notable release, Donuts, in 2006, is the fantastic instrumental entitled "Hi". The beat was later on used by Ghostface Killah for his Fishscale album on the song "Beauty Jackson". Secondly is one of my favorite songs of all time bluntly titled "Fuck The Police" which was released as a 12" for Up Above Records in 2001. In the song, Dilla chastises corrupt policemen who conduct illegal searches and plant evidence on African Americans. The 12" sleeve cover includes pictures of Mumia Abu-Jamal and Rodney King, both of which are known for their run-ins with law enforcement.

Download: J Dilla - "Hi."
Download: J Dilla - "Fuck The Police"

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Dilla Days: February 1st

As a self proclaimed super-fan, I wanted to do something unique this month to spread awareness to the life and legacy of one of hip hop's greatest record producers, James Dewitt Yancey aka Jay Dee/J Dilla. Unless you've been living in a cave the past four years, you are probably aware that Dilla was born in February and subsequently, and extremely unfortunately, passed away in February as well due to complications with a very rare blood disease called TTP (Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura).

Anyways, what this means is that I will be posting two of my favorite songs or instrumentals every day throughout the month of February. My goal is to simply draw awareness to the name and music of Jay Dee/J Dilla, and hopefully motivate you to support his remaining family by purchasing an album or three.

Starting off on day one of Dilla Days we have the classic remix of The Pharcyde's "She Said", which was originally released on the groups Labcabincalifornia album in 1995 and later remixed by Jay Dee. Secondly is a lesser known track called "Rock Box" from his cousin Que-D off their Quite Delicious collaboration in 2003.

And always remember to TURN IT UP! LOUDER.

Download: The Pharcyde - "She Said (Jay Dee Remix)"
Download: Que-D - "Rock Box" (Prod. by J Dilla)

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