J Dilla - Notable Musical Tributes

Notable Musical Tributes

• Common's album Finding Forever is an album entirely dedicated to J Dilla, wherein Kanye West even cut up the samples in methods that J Dilla did.
• The Roots released a mixtape called "Dilla Jawns" on what would have been J Dilla's 36th birthday in February 2010. The mixtape would later be rapped over by Dice Raw in his mixtape Dilla, Dice, Pregunte.
• The Roots pay tribute to J Dilla on their 2007 album Game Theory with "Can't Stop This", a song that incorporates J Dilla's song "Time: The Donut of the Heart" as the beat with emcee Black Thought rapping about the impact he had on his life. The song closes with a number of voice messages discussing J Dilla's legacy and influence on Hip-Hop music and over the years.
• The Roots again pay tribute to J Dilla, along with deceased Slum Village member Baatin, on the instrumental interlude "Dillatude: Flight of the Titus" from their album How I Got Over.
• Rapper XV released a 6 song EP titled Thanks For The Donuts, strictly using beats produced by J Dilla, on the 5th anniversary of the release of Donuts (February 7, 2011) which also would be J Dilla's 37th birthday.
• Erykah Badu's series of New Amerykah albums contains a number of tributes to J Dilla. On New Amerykah Part One (4th World War), Badu first honours Dilla with the song "The Healer", where she sings "this one is for Dilla". She again pays tribute to him on the song "My People", a re-working of the song "People" from J Dilla's album Donuts. The closing song of New Amerykah Part One, "Telephone", draws inspiration from J Dilla's final moments as his mother had described to her, with J Dilla himself having visions about his passage to the afterlife. On New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh), Badu pays tribute again to Dilla on the song "Love", a song that J Dilla posthumously produced as well.
• J-Rocc commemorates J Dilla with a series of mixes and podcasts entitled Thank You Jay Dee. The series is divided into four acts and was released yearly from 2006 to 2009. The music contained within is a megamix of J Dilla's sample sources, demonstrating the wide variety of styles and songs Dilla was able to incorporate in creating his music.
• Dwele on his 2008 album Sketches of a Man pays tribute to J Dilla all over the album, from the album cover (an imitation ofDilla's instrumental album Donuts), to the interludes ("Workin' On It" is a medley of various songs found on Donuts) and the songs "Open Your Eyes" and "Brandi". "Open Your Eyes" is a cover of the Bobby Caldwell song that was sampled by J Dilla for Common's "The Light", from his 2000 album Like Water For Chocolate. "Brandi" contains a sample from "Go Ladies" from J Dilla's former group Slum Village, who also appear on the song, from their 2000 album, Fantastic, Vol. 2.
• Termanology recorded a hip hop mixtape tribute to J Dilla titled If Heaven Was A Mile Away
• Dan-e-o released a 2 in 1 album/mixtape entitled Dilla Pickles in honor of J Dilla.
• DJ Spinna released an instrumental tribute to J Dilla on vinyl entitled Dilla is the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time), with Spinna producing a beat in the same vein as J Dilla's song "Nobody Cares About Us" with Phat Kat. DJ Spinna would later release a second tribute to Dilla called Dillagence, using the same production as Dilla is the G.O.A.T. and featuring a medley of J Dilla's lyrics performed by Phonte of Little Brother.
• Busta Rhymes in collaboration with Mick Boogie, Rah Digga, Q-Tip, Talib Kweli and others, released Dillagence, a mixtape dedicated to J Dilla's memory and featuring songs created by J Dilla.
• Akrobatik pays tribute to Dilla on his album Absolute Value. In the song "Put Your Stamp on It", he raps "If hip hop is dead then it happened the day that Dilla died". The song was produced by Dilla himself.
• Pete Rock pays tribute to J Dilla on the album NY's Finest, on the track "Gangsta Boogie".
• Q-Tip Q-Tip pays tribute to J Dilla on his 2009 album The Renaissance with the songs "Shaka" and "Life is Better". On the former, he calls J Dilla a "master" and raps, "Dilla, having you in my past has been blast, you've inspired so many and forever will you last", and on the latter, he makes mention of J Dilla twice during a verse that recalls some of Hip-Hop's most influential figures.
• Black Milk mentions J Dilla on various productions of his since his death. On his 2008 album Tronic, Black Milk rhymes about how J Dilla was an inspiration to him ("Long Story Short") and that he was "the best Hip-Hop producer" ("Bond 4 Life"). On his 2010 album Album of the Year, Black Milk laments that he wishes J Dilla was still around "to hear this new shit" ("Closed Chapter").
• Flying Lotus pays tribute to J Dilla by remaking the Slum Village track "Fall In Love" in his own signature sound, utilizing the same melody and harmony with a more electronic aesthetic. The song would later be rhymed over in the song "Paid Homage (RIP J Dilla)", from Detroit emcee Finale's album A Pipe Dream and a Promise. Flying Lotus also produced his own rendition of J Dilla's song "Lightworks" with the song "LTWXRMX" from his white label EP Shhhh! released in 2008.
• Robert Glasper, a jazz pianist, pays tribute to J Dilla with the song "J Dillalude". The jazz composition, requested by Q-Tip in a voice message played at the song's onset, is made up of various Dilla productions such as Common's "Thelonius", De La Soul's "Stakes Is High" and Slum Village's "Fall in Love". "Dillalude Pt. 2" was released on the "Black Radio Recovered: Remix" EP in October 2012 under the Robert Glasper Experiment.
• Hip-Hop producer J. Rawls pays tribute to J Dilla on his side-project The Liquid Crystal Project with a song titled "A Tribute to Dilla", a jazzy rendition of Slum Village's song "Players". J. Rawls later pays tribute again to Dilla with the song "Another Tribute to Dilla" released on vinyl 7", which offers a jazzy cover of the song "Fall in Love".
• Madlib and J-Rocc honor J Dilla with two installments of the Beat Konducta series. Beat Konducta Vol. 5: Dil Cosby Suite and Beat Konducta Vol. 6: Dil Withers Suite (later combined into Vol. 5-6: A Tribute to...) are instrumental tributes produced in the same fashion as J Dilla's album Donuts.
• Producer M-Phazes pays tribute to J Dilla with the track "Raise It Up For Dilla".
• Ladybug Mecca former member of Digable Planets dedicates her song and video "You Never Get Over It" from her solo album "Trip The Light Fantastic" in loving memory of J. Dilla and her mother and father.
• De La Soul pay tribute to Dilla on the track "La La La" with the line "Dilla, if you hear me, we are missing you so much."
• Take, in his 2008 album The Dirty Decibels of Thomas Two Thousand, pays tribute to J Dilla on two songs, "Lie-twerx" and "Fall in Love Again", which cover theproductions on "Lightworks" and "Fall in Love" respectively.
• Kardinal Offishall pays tribute to J Dilla on his album Not 4 Sale. At the end of the song "Due Me a Favour", he performs an a cappella rap, stating, "I believe that Dilla was the number one dude in rap".
• Show & A.G. pays tribute to J Dilla on their song "Business As Usual" from the Live Hard EP, where A.G. rhymes: "Age bitter, J Dilla rest your soul / Gave his life for this hip hop shit, y'all don't hear me though".
• A Suite for Ma Dukes is a live musical tribute to J Dilla arranged and conducted by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson with the help of Carlos Nino and a 60-piece orchestra. Originally a four-song EP of a selection of J Dilla's works, the project expanded and culminated into a series of live events that were recorded for a subsequent live album release. The concert, the second in the Timeless Conductor Series presented by Mochilla, included orchestral renditions of several J Dilla's productions and featured appearances by soul singers Dwele and Bilal, rappers Posdnous, Talib Kweli and Illa J, along with various instrumental and vocal contributions by some of Dilla's close collaborators like Karriem Riggins, Shafiq Husayn, Thundercat and Amp Fiddler. Atwood-Ferguson said, "Dilla’s music is so heartfelt, soulful and transcendent. It is perfect for someone like me to reinterpret and celebrate in my own way. It’s really been fun for me to explore his music in an orchestral setting."
• On J. Cole's "Knock Knock" from his popular mixtape, "The Warm-Up" the song open's with the line: "Sometime's play the villain, sometimes play the hero. Sometimes I be Dilla, sometimes I be Preemo.
• Nottz pays a tribute to J Dilla in the song "Shine So Brite" on the album "You Need This Music".
• Lettuce, the funk band pays tribute with their song "Mr. Yancey".
• Danny! pays tribute to J Dilla on the track "Check It Out", a re-interpretation of the A Tribe Called Quest single Find A Way, which was produced by Dilla.
• On Massilo Ohio rapper Stalley's mixtape "Lincoln Way Nights", he refers to Dilla in the song "Tell Montez I Love Her" with this line: "You was the first to introduce me to Dilla, and until this day I ain't never heard nobody realer".
• Skillz, Q-Tip, and Peanut Butter Wolf pay homage in memory of Dilla on the web series Hip Hop Confessions (episode 6) trading stories about the producer.
• On Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller's "The Jukebox" Mixtape, he does his own rendition of "So Far To Go"
• For “Too Deep For the Intro,” on the "Friday Night Lights" Mixtape, J. Cole sped up “Didn't Cha Know” which Dilla infamously produced for Erykah Badu.
• "Show Me A Good Time" from Drake's album "Thank Me Later" mentions J Dilla
• Immortal Technique in his single Toast to the Dead, from his free Mixtape The Martyr raps, "J Dilla's still alive as long as his music is." The production of the song is credited to J Dilla himself.
• Big Sean made a song called "Two Can Win" paying tribute to J Dilla.
• Skyzoo made a song called "Two Can Win" paying tribute to J Dilla.
• The song "Won't do" by the Balance and the Traveling Sounds is listed as a tribute to J Dilla.
• Charles Hamilton released a mixtape And Then They Played Dilla