Fillmore Detroit to host Dilla Day tribute to hip-hop pioneer J Dilla

[GATMAN]

http://www.freep.com/article/20111227/ENT04/111227047

On the sixth anniversary of Jay Dee’s death on Feb. 10, the Fillmore Detroit will host Dilla Day Detroit, a celebration recognizing the Detroit hip-hop pioneer’s musical legacy, his mother Maureen (Ma Dukes) Yancey said today.

The Slum Village co-founder (real name: James Dewitt Yancey), known in rap circles as Jay Dee or J Dilla, died at age 32 in 2006 of complications stemming from lupus. Dilla worked as a producer and rapper with some of the hip-hop’s and R&B’s biggest and most influential artists, including Janet Jackson, Common, D’Angelo, the Roots, Erykah Badu and Mos Def.

While some details are still being sorted out, Yancey told the Free Press that the show in the D will include performances by Busta Rhymes, Jay Electronica, Phife of A Tribe Called Quest, along with Phat Kat, Danny Brown and the Nick Speed Orchestra.

On top of the all-star roster, which will grow as the event draws closer, Yancey said Oscar-nominated “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” actress Taraji P. Henson is scheduled to host the festivities, which will be simulcast on the Web. (Free Press attempts to reach Henson’s reps to confirm her participation were unsuccessful on Tuesday.)

“It’s going to be very special to have people right here in Detroit see his name up in lights and embrace his great legacy,” Yancey said of her son. “It’s very special that we’re doing it right here in his hometown. He loved his city.”

Yancey said that on-sale information and other details are still being worked out, but cover for the show will be $20, and portions of the proceeds will go to the J Dilla Foundation and to the production of “Rebirth of Detroit,” a new album of Dilla material scheduled to be released in May through the newly established Yancey Music Group. For more info: jdillarebirthofdetroit.com and jdillafoundation.org.

Contact Free Press Staff Writer B.J. Hammerstein at 313-223-4528 or bjhammerstein@freepress.com