R.I.P. Jay Dee

From pitchforkmedia.com:

Jay Dee Dead at 32
James Yancey, the man known to the hip-hop world as Jay Dee and J Dilla, passed away this morning at his home in Los Angeles. He was 32 years old.

While the cause of death has yet to be confirmed, Yancey had recently suffered from kidney problems. His latest album, Donuts, released on Tuesday, was partially recorded in the hospital using a portable studio.

Jay Dee began his career as a member of the Ummah, A Tribe Called Quest's production team. He would go on to make beats for Common, Busta Rhymes, De La Soul, Pharcyde, and many others. He was a member of Slum Village, collaborated with Madlib as Jaylib, and put out several acclaimed solo albums, mixes, and singles. Pharrell Williams once called Jay Dee his favorite hip-hop producer.

Peter Adarkwah, the founder of BBE Records, which released Jay Dee’s 2001 solo album Welcome 2 Detroit, gave the following statement: "Jay was one of my favorite Hip-Hop producers of all time. His passion for music was a rare thing amongst people in the music industry. His music and presence will be sorely missed for many years to come."

I just picked up Jay Dee's newest joint "Donuts" the other day. What a terrible, terrible coincidence. Best wishes to his family; here's to hopes that he gets his due posthumously.

Early to Man, Early to Rise

Went to the End on Tuesday night to check out Early Man, Priestess and The Sword. Actually, I was expecting to miss both openers by arriving around 11:15pm, but to my surprise, Priestess had just begun. Their name and album art impart an inaccurate goth motif. In actuality, they have kind of a Hellacopters/Motorhead thing going on - swaggering and riff heavy. The lead singer's got all the trad rock moves down pat. Oddly, his chubbiness doesn't really ruin the illusion of stardom, but lends itself to real patrician charm. Best part of the show was the mid-set drum solo. I can't think of the last time I saw a real, in-the-flesh drum solo since Phil Hanson went on for about 10 minutes in H-W's 9th grade talent show ("Paranoid," maybe?). What was initially ironic became increasingly awe-inspiring. The drummer knew it, too. Cool that real metalheads were there to give their deferential devilhorns in appreciation of the rawk.

Early Man wheeled their stunning Orange stacks onto the stage in short time. In fact, part of Early Man's appeal was the simplicity of their set-up. Drums, Orange Stacks, Two Guitars, Two Tuning Pedals, Bass Stack, and Bass. As pointed out by Tinobeat on the MBB, it's cool that they relied solely on the overdrive of the Orange Amps to get that incredible sound. Incredibly charismatic they were not, but enough to make it a memorable experience. Upon first hearing their recorded output, I thought E.M. was merely a joke by some N.Y. hipsters, albeit one that I found pretty funny. The joke was on me, though; listening to the record, I've realized how much metal I really do like. I mean, it wasn't so long ago that I was checking out Kill 'Em All from the Santa Monica Library. The show was split between your died-in-the-tatoo-ink metal heads (pressed against the right-side of the stage not reluctantly expressing their approval for everything awesomely done) and button-wearing hipsters. Musis was enjoyed by all types, though, and not smirkingly appreciated. Arrangement-wise, all songs were pretty straight adaptations from the album, but what would you expect? That was more than enough. Also, the lead dude really held his own vocally on "Death is the Answer" and "Four Walls."

I think I'm going to Supergrass next Wednesday, but pictures may be impractical. Until the next report . . .

- RIDY