Jay Dilla’s father Dewitt Yancey sits on the porch of the Detroit home where Dilla (RIP) grew up, at the corner of McDougall and East Nevada. It was in the basement of this house — from about 1992 to 1997 — where Dilla (aka Jay Dee) set up a studio that gave birth to his approach to hip-hop production (which is called “visionary” in international music circles). Slum Village, Common, Pete Rock, Q-Tip, D’Angelo, Jazzy Jeff and Erykah Badu are just some of the heavy hitters who spent time downstairs here. Laments DJ House Shoes, “I miss that basement. That basement is the birthplace of so many musical ideas. That was the center for the Detroit movement in hip hop.”
from Metrotimes.
James Yancey aka Jay Dee / J Dilla (1974-2006).
