If you haven’t heard already, J Dilla’s mom, Maureen Yancey (aka Ma Dukes), is selling a significant chunk of the former hip hop producer’s music collection, in batches, on eBay. The news comes about nine months after reports that a Michigan record store had begun selling some of Dilla’s records. Sources say that he owned over 8,000 records–from 12-inches to acetates to master tapes–and each one you successfully purchase comes with a certificate of authenticity from Ms. Yancey.
It’s difficult to fathom a collection of things approaching a number as big as 8,000 (excepting Pokémon cards and stamps), but according to scholars, that’s in fact how the world may have worked for producers before the dawn of cloud-based services, rampant file-sharing, and the internet writ large. On the flip-side of things, it’s remarkably easy–if not necessary– to think about Jay Dee owning a record collection of that size. Having produced nine albums as J Dilla/Jay Dee and with Slum Village and Madlib while he was still alive and accruing countless production credits for his work with artists from Tribe Called Quest to The Roots to Janet Jackson (and even remixes for Daft Punk and Four Tet), J Dilla made music with drive and dimensionality that approximated the speed at which rabbits produce additional rabbits while on designer drugs.
From soul to psychedelic music, J Dilla drew on influences that in no small part likely merged with his exposure to classical music as a kid in Detroit. The eccentricities that continually surfaced in Jay Dee’s beats, coupled with the utter warmth of his tracks as a whole, helps to explain why hip-hop giants were continually beating down his door to make beautiful James Yancey music together, or at least have James Yancey make beautiful music for them. His work was different, his tastes were impeccable, and his intuition for flow and disruption in song structures put him in a class of producer all by his lonesome. And the respect and adoration has only continued (this statement probably deserves a “duh”). Stones Throw Records, the entity that released Donuts, Yancey’s final album during his lifetime, held a contest last year that gave anyone the chance to create a music video for any track ever released on the label. Perhaps fittingly, an outfit led by a Finn ended up winning with a fun and literal take on J Dilla’s “Last Donut of the Night” (you can access the runner-up videos here):
Should you decide to try your luck at purchasing one of Yancey’s personal records, you can do so by following this eBay account–the next batch will be sold on February 4. Optimists be warned: the last batch supposedly sold out almost instantly. The upside in trying and succeeding is that you 1) get to touch and own something that J Dilla touched and owned, and 2) will be contributing to the J Dilla Foundation, which seeks to fund inner-city music programs and provide scholarships for kids attending schools with a focus on music. Bravo, friend–in reading that last sentence, it’s basically like you’ve already done half a good deed.
