It’s that time of year again!
February is known to be the month of love, the month when we observe the feast of St. Valentine’s by buying boxes of chocolate, bouquets of flowers, and treating your girl to a fancy dinner to show her that you love her (eye roll). I don’t know about you, ladies and gents, but your man should make you feel like it’s Valentine’s Day, everyday. But let me stop right here–this post here isn’t about Valentine’s-bashing (with that being said, I hope everyone here has a good one)! February is also Black History month, when we observe the struggle for equality among men of different color (and ultimately the triumph of equality and human rights) but I hold February dear to my heart for different reasons.
This month is the month when one of the greatest producers was born, as it is the month he passed after a long battle with a rare blood disease.
Yes. I love this month because it’s the month of Dilla-uary.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with J-Dilla, born James Dewitt Yancey on February 7 in 1974, he was a very influential producer who emerged from the mid-90′s in the underground hip-hop scene in Detroit. He was an early member of Slum Village and worked with a wide variety of hip-hop artists (A Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes, The Pharcyde, Erykah Badu, Common etc). Just as his solo career was at its high peak, he passed away on February 10, 2006 from a cardiac arrest caused by complications of a rare blood disease called thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and lupus. After his death, there was like a rebirth, almost, of his music, and the various artists who knew him and worked with him and those who were his friends made tribute to his life and work. Since his passing, there has been an annual tribute show every February.
Every February, I dedicate the month to J-Dilla and post a song of his on my Facebook, blog and Twitter–this year is no different! I’m also really excited for the tribute show that will be held this year. Last year, DJ House Shoes hosted the event at Little Temple in the Echo Park area and a lot of different DJs came through and spun Dilla’s music all night long. Rhettmatic was there, Mayer Hawthorne, Babu, etc etc.
I want to share another DJ’s tribute mix today. I don’t know if you guys heard of DJ Erok, but he’s got to be one of the hardest working people I know. On top of DJing, he works with Acrylick doing various film and photography work, and he’s also done a few videos for SPEAK (remember him?).
I’ve been bumping this all morning, I hope you guys enjoy! Click on the image to be directed to the mix.
