Jay Dee

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hip-hop, hip hop, rap, underground hip-hop, detroit… see all

Jay Dee was a 1970s R&B artist and protege of the late Barry White.

Hip Hop musician and producer James Dewitt Yancey also used the pseudonym “Jay Dee” during the earlier part of his career, before switching to the alias J Dilla. The remainder of this entry refers to J Dilla:

James Dewitt Yancey (later known as J Dilla) who passed away on February 10th, 2006. He produced songs for such artists as A Tribe Called Quest, Common, De La Soul, Erykah Badu, The Pharcyde, Slum Village and many others. He called Detroit home, but produced in New York and Los Angeles (where he passed away) as well.

As a result of Lupus, Dilla had battled kidney problems since 2004 after he returned from a tour in Europe where he ate a lot of food that apparently did not agree with his body. Upon his return, doctors told him that his kidney had ruptured and he was malnourished. He was kept in ICU for several weeks, but began to recover (even producing while in the hospital). Unfortunately, he was not able to overcome the illness and passed away just three days after his 32nd birthday (which was also the release date of his latest album, Donuts).

Jay Dee’s complete discography can be found here: http://www.stonesthrow.com/jdilla/discography.html

1	Think Twice	111
2	Y'all Ain't Ready	105
3	Nothing Like This	101
4	Featuring Phat Kat	97
5	It's Like That	95
6	Reckless Driving	94
7	Shouts	89
8	Kamaal	86
9	Circus	80
10	It's Dope	69
11	Coastin	61
12	Lightworks	60
12	Make Em Nv	60
14	The Dee	57
15	Get Down	56

Top Albums

Welcome 2 Detroit
Jay Dee
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Vintage: Unreleased Instrumentals
Jay Dee
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Ruff Draft
Jay Dee
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The Shining
Jay Dee
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deepfriedbrain wrote:
last month

protoge of Barry White!?! how could someone just throw that little tidbit in there and then not elaborate... was he just a fan of Barry White or was he really his protoge!?! I never knew that about him... anyone know what that's referring to????

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elchris369 wrote:
last month

j dilla RIP

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GinjaXL wrote:
last month

It's shame that so many people never knew who he was, and that he's just now getting seriously famous.. He produced so much.. Had at least one track on EVERY busta rhymes album.. R.I.P. Jay Dee

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emillscorp wrote:
last month

cant keep runnin awaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

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minty_fresh81 wrote:
last month

"Turnitup!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

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supabwoy wrote:
last month

dilla dawg

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InKursion wrote:
last month

The Busta Rhymes album is actually really good, I was surprised.

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magnus3994 wrote:
July 2008

Merge please.

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Nachtkrabb wrote:
July 2008

thats it: my tags are jay dee, because they already been for years (before he renamed himself) and i don't tag the new tracks dilla cos i dont want 2 artists in my list. so you always have that inconsistencies, til last.fm mergin those names...

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mj_keepitreal wrote:
July 2008

yep, it's kinda stupid that there is Jay Dee and J Dilla separately - but as different albums were released on different names I guess it should be up to Last.FM to treat them as one. Cheers.

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Redman192 wrote:
July 2008

vote for J Dilla

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Jaysilla wrote:
July 2008

brazilian groove is a chill joint. btw, ppl should just tag all his work as "J Dilla". It's a bit pointless like if i were to tag some of 2pac's work as "makaveli" or common as "common sense".

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AbbottSupreme wrote:
June 2008

I AM HIP-HOP

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LongDivision8 wrote:
June 2008

Let's Take It Back is my new fav. great beat, smooth lyrics.

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dubupset wrote:
June 2008

http://www.last.fm/music/100dBs/_/Munchkin+%28RIP+Dilla%29

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King_Crunk wrote:
June 2008

never forget dee, such a genius.

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S-Kayos wrote:
May 2008

J. Dilla

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theleft wrote:
May 2008

so so smooth.

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chuko62 wrote:
May 2008

Not be slept on, the 70's Jay Dee (J Dilla) is quality in his own right. 'Come On In Love' is a great LP. RIP Dilla

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UNI_Music wrote:
May 2008

RIP Check out U-N-I at www.lastfm.com/music/U-N-I and www.myspace.com/UNImuzik

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Recent Activity

Allen__Walker, kacperk33, salskater and 7 other people added Jay Dee to their libraries. 5 hours ago
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