Last Donut of the Night - J Dilla

I don't know how I missed posting this. Can't tell you what I was doing or going through last month, but Stussy released a 3-part-documentary on J Dilla's life during his last few years—From Detroit to LA to Donuts. The documentary features the likes of DJ Houseshoes, Peanut Butter Wolf, J. Rocc, Frank Nitty and  quite a few others. Stussy and Stones Throw Records have also partnered on a J Dilla tribute t-shirt.

And I knew about everything I'm posting, for some reason I never posted it (Oops). Stones Throw Records, Serato Records, and the J Dilla Estate collaborated on the special edition vinyl release of Donut Shop. This is the description that is on Stones Throw's site:

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.

It's available for pre-order now and will be released on May 10. One of the tracks: "Safety Dance" has been released for free download already. Peep it:

Download "Safety Dance" Here

I think I've gotten everything else out of the way, now for your feature presentation, J Dilla Documentary presented by Stussy.

Raise It Up - Slum Village

I watched the Ustream of 'Ma Dukes is the Foundation' (Feb. 9) and seeing legends come together to honor another legend was amazing via the internet so I imagine it was outstanding being there. I couldn't figure out what I wanted to say or how to word it. I didn't want to be cliché or another one of those annoying posts some bloggers do when they don't really care. I posted this on my Tumblr earlier and it seemed pretty perfect.

So I’m working on a post for my blog about J. Dilla.

Have I ever met him?

No.

Was I as huge of a fan of his back then?

Not Really.

Dilla is that musician I have learned to appreciate and love everything he’s done for music. It’s funny that someone you have never met can change your life in 3 minutes of being in your ear.

I place J. Dilla in the same ranks an aspiring pianist would place Chopin or Bach, the movements they started are phoenomenal.

Yes, I’m a writer, but Dilla changed my life.

It's been four years since J. Dilla passed away and what's amazing is his legacy is still going strong. He single-handedly changed hip-hop and it makes me wonder if even he knew the kind of affect he would have.

I heard 'Donuts' the day it released and thought it was the most amazing thing I ever heard. The only thing I remember thinking was "how?" It's one of those albums I listened to in complete silence and felt something new every time I listened to it. Three days after I first heard that album J. Dilla passed away. When the story ran in the Detroit Free Press I was so captivated by it; it was the perfect example of a hip-hop story that went beyond 16 bars and an 808. It resulted in me getting an apprenticeship at the Free Press the following year while being mentored by Kelley L. Carter (who wrote the story).

One week, one album, one man put me on the path I'm on now. There are tons of untold stories in this industry and four years ago I made it my mission to spread the word.

Dilla changed my life, raise it up.

Don't Believe 'Em - Busta Rhymes

I do not think you all understand just how much I hate the fact that I am giving this waste of a record deal Charles Hamilton so much attention right now, but using Dilla's name is a such a hot issue. If you've been keeping up you know what's going on as far as CH v. The Motor City. Well one of the people Charles Hamilton really wants to talk to is House Shoes, Dilla's best friend and handles pretty much everything involving the J. Dilla name. House Shoes doesn't want to talk to CH because according to him it's too late to be apologizing. I was on Michiganhiphop.com and they just posted this video from Hip Hop Official of House Shoes discussing the situation. Check it out:

Know What i"m Talking About - Gucci Mane

♫ RZA (yep from the Wu-Tang Clan) is planning a remake of The Last Dragon ( a 1985 Bruce Lee film). Nothing wrong with that, but he wants both Chris Brown and Rihanna to have roles in the film. Awkward Much?

♫ Official News on the Hova front, Jay-Z's album will be released on the 8th anniversary of The Blueprint..which is September 11, 2009 (for all the non-super-fans). Yes, some of the information leaked yesterday, but quality beats delivery with me and I had to assure the accuracy with this (basically info from blogs equal no-no). ANYWAY, this is a big deal, it's his first album with Warner Music Group. Before you jump ahead, that's the other Hov news I have for you, Jay-Z signs on for The Blueprint 3 with WMG/Atlantic, but Roc Nation (his label with Live Nation) goes through Epic. Though this seems complicated, it's all for distribution purposes because supposedly TB3 (my nickname for it) will be distributed through Roc Nation as well. Jay-Z is a business, man; I expect everything to roll through smoothly.

♫ There were rumors floating around that Mos Def had pushed back the release of "Estatic" until August but according to an e-mail Mos Def's label will be releasing the album on time June 9 (THIS TUESDAY), and beginning THIS Saturday, the album will be available for listen on his MySpace page. One track that has my heart jumping rope is the Talib Kweli/Mos Def (Black Star) collab on the Dilla (sidebar: "Jay $tay Paid" released this week, cop that!) beat "History" check it below.


♫ Weezy F. Baby says that "Rebirth" is finally ready for release. Production has finally been completed on the album (which has been pushed back 3 times already). Lil' Waye spoke with MTV briefly at the MTV Movie Awards and naturally was questioned about expectaitons:

Expect great music. That's all I ever want them to expect from me. I wanted to grow and show my growth as well. It's a difference from when you go in a room and come out and you're better and everyone says, 'How did you do that?' So with this album, I wanted everyone to see my growing pains.

I have never been anxious for a Wayne album...and nothing has changed, this shall be interesting though.