Every February the good people at Rare Form entertainment put together their annual Donuts Are Forever J Dilla Tribute in NYC. I was lucky enough to come across some footage of last months event. The music was provided by ?uestlove of The Roots along with DJs Brainchild, Parler, DJ LowKey & Tara. Maureen “Ma Dukes” Yancey was in attendance along with members of the J Dilla Foundation. It was an incredible turnout as the event was at capacity within an hour and lineups still around the block. The video features some interview clips with ?uestlove, Brainchild & Ma Dukes. The event raised a $4400.00 for the J Dilla Foundation. The foundation is a non-profit that serves to help fund inner city music programs & provide scholarships to students attending schools with a progressive music curriculum. Props to Jerry at Nodfactor.com

Serato and Stones Throw have teamed with the J Dilla Estate for the official J Dilla Serato release, Donut Shop. This is 2 discs with six J Dilla tracks, 2 sides with Serato Control Tone (for use with Serato Scratch Live DJ software), and 2 donut slipmats in a package designed by Studio No.1. This will be released May 10th (the day after Mother’s day–what’s up Ma Dukes?). Pre-order is available now.  The J Dilla tracks consist of three previously unreleased instrumentals selected by J.Rocc from the Dilla archives – “Safety Dance”, “Sycamore”, “Bars & Twists” – and three unreleased instrumental versions of Dilla’s production for Mos Def, Q-Tip and Busta Rhymes, each remastered by Elysian Masters who mixed and mastered J Dilla’s Donuts, The Shining and Ruff Draft albums. Thanks to Stones Throw

Download: J Dilla – “Safety Dance”

Hezekiah sent over these three tracks from one of his musical affiliates, Ishe, rocking over Dilla tracks. I’m always wary of stuff like this because some people really try to capitalize on the legacy of one of our heroes. But I also always try to give it a shot because I know how much Dilla meant to others and how much he influenced some artists. As such, I gave these three joints a listen and instantly fell in love. And I get the feeling you’ll do the same.

Download: Ishe + Dilla – “Layed Up” [Right Click Save-As]
Download: Ishe + Dilla – “Luvin So Many Things About Cha” [Right Click Save-As]
Download: Ishe + Dilla – “I’m Fly” [Right Click Save-As]

We continue to celebrate the life and music of Jay Dee this week at Potholes. It’s only right that we bless you with some of our favourite tribute mixes that have been done in his honour. If you’re not a regular listener of the Deviation show with Benji B on BBC-1xtra I highly recommend it for all types of great underground music. Over the years, Benji B has made Jay Dee’s music a regular staple on his weekly show. After Jay Dee passed he did a two-hour tribute show on February 16th, 2006 to celebrate all the incredible music we’ve come to associate with Jay Dee. Two years later he had Brooklyn producer Ge-ology on his show to spin some Jay Dee rarities as well some of his own new music since he was in the UK for a show. Being a weekly listener of his show I’ve managed to save both mixes on MP3. The two hour show was just re-posted again this week on the Deviation blog, but the rarities mix is a little harder to track down unless you downloaded it back in 2008.  Enjoy the music and please let us know what you think.

(R.I.P. J Dilla)

Download: Benji B: Deviation J Dilla Tribute Mix [Usershare]
Download: Ge-ology + J Dilla Rarities Mix [Usershare]

Hit the jump for track listings for both mixes….

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Back in 2002 J Dilla had a show at Roxy Blu in Toronto where he did a three hour DJ set. I was at this show and never knew there was any footage until now. The interview is even more rare when you consider that Jay Dee has passed and that club no longer exists. Wajeed and Frank N’ Dank also appear this video. As we celebrate his life and music this week enjoy one of the few interviews with the legendary Jay Dee.

R.I.P. J Dilla (1974-2006)

Props to Henri

Tropical punk Cibelle, who I am not terribly familiar with, just shot this video for her cover of Raymond Scott’s “Lightworks”. She and her band handle it pretty well and it’s dope to hear her take on a joint J Dilla so famously sampled. Oh…right…

Happy birthday, J Dilla!

It’s no secret that hip-hop is in constant motion – it changes year to year. Emerging technologies combined with the fickle needs and wants of the industry, the artists, and the fans, all play a role in shaping our musical world. Some of the changes to the hip-hop scene have been, well, less than desirable (see: the decline of radio rap). However, the past ten years, 2000-2009, still held releases of some of the most creative and unique hip-hop albums of all time, with an ever-expanding range of sub-genres. Traditional hip-hop rooted in the golden age of the ’90s was certainly alive and well, but it was sharing chart space with newer, progressive styles. That said, we have compiled a list of our 25 favorite hip-hop albums from the past ten years, as a form of celebrating the musical diversity in hip-hop from the decade that was.

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The Sounds of VTech / Suite For Ma Dukes: Take Notice

This performance of Dilla’s “Take Notice” cut, off the Ruff Draft EP gives me absolute chills. Thanks to VTech and Mochilla, a box-set DVD showcasing Dilla renditions from Suite For Ma Dukes, Mulatu Astatke and Arthur Verocai, will be released. I know many of you are familiar with Suite by now, but I would also like to highlight Mulatu and Arthur, as both are incredible musicians as well. Along with this video I also included a picture of the box-set after the skip and an mp3 of the recording… Give this video a listen and share some of your thoughts!

Download: Suite For Ma Dukes Orchestra – “Take Notice” [Right Click Save-As]

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It’s with the green light from one of Detroit’s Hip-Hop ambassadors to the World, HouseShoes, that producer DaveNotti brings a remix of “Make’em NV” by J Dilla to the masses. The track was originally released back in 2003 on Jay Dee’s Ruff Draft EP and later re-released by Stones Throw in 2007. When DJ K.O., asked DaveNotti why he wanted to remix one of J Dilla’s tracks he replied, “Who didn’t like Ruff Draft?!?! While all the beats on it were dope enough to not need ANY remixes, I definitely wanted to take a swing at it.”

Download: J Dilla – “Make Em’ NV” (DaveNotti Remix)

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The Sounds of VTech / Hypnotic Brass Ensemble by Mochilla   

Apologies for my lateness on it, but this deserves a post! Hypnotic Brass Ensemble getting their Dilla on here, playing their rendition of “Scrabble” the joint that Jay sampled on one of my favorites, “Fuck The Police.” Give it a view or two and let us know what you think!