Undoubtedly the most revered beatmaker in hip-hop’s five-decade history, James Dewitt Yancey - better known as J Dilla or Jay Dee - is one of those rare musical talents that forever alters the direction of not only his chosen genre, but popular music as a whole.
Through his solo releases, his work with Slum Village and his production for The Pharcyde, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and Erykah Badu (to name a few) Dilla’s influence has radiated outward through genres and generations, inspiring everyone from Michael Jackson to Kendrick Lamar. As his close friend and collaborator Madlib put it, "every producer bows down to Dilla, whether they like it or not".
