JayDee RIP - Yesterday's Producer Today

I'm really getting back into the hip-hop thing. You sometimes get disconnected from the phat in this RSS world. Thank god for the HoodHype podcast. It is inevitable that someone (from an unknown to Pdiddy, RuffRyders or an unknown like the HH podcast) take what The Source did (for better or for worse to hip hop) in magazines and apply the lesson to podcasting. So, I'ved ebb'd and flow'd since I was 15yrs when it comes to hip hop : went electronic and back, did some reggae, breaks, trip hop, french house : ended up loving acoustic, urban, on a soul tip too, depending on availability of tracks and mood. I always return to good raps though : But usually provoked by something. A recent must listen (in my routine) is Maya's JJJ Monday Night Hip Hop Show. You can get the last week's episode as a stream. Too easy. So it was eery when they were playing some seminal tracks from Tribe Called Quest, in tribute to the Producer behind the scenes whose name, as often happens, I didn't know : Jay Dee. If you like smooth beats, and who doesn't, give it a listen, and we can all only dream of such a back catalogue. (as young as he was) He died of Lupus, which is something I read a bit about when trying to solve a problem I was having with my knee twelve months ago. It's waay bad. My hyperlinked thought is without a digital stream, I would never have known who was making these records I loved as a teenager. While film has an established class structure with its directors and $20M actors (and the promotional machine which drives talent to self destruction) : Similarly blogging and Web 1.0 + 2.0 has its "entrepreneurs/VC's/Uni's/so-cal culture" - but (oppressed arts like hip hop, esp from down here years away in Oz) there are still some ways to go. Amazing how Aussie Hip Hop is now really strong, independent and really worth a listen. Either way, the local and global Silent Army keeps documenting, by whatever means necessary, as BDP and KRS1 said. It's a huge discography but here are some JayDee Highlights:

Jay Dee - The Police/Move, feat. Frank N Dank 12" single 2001
J Dilla - Donuts CD/LP 2006
v/a - Fight Club, feat. Dilla, Nottz & Boogie from "Best Kept Secret Mix" CD 2003
A Tribe Called Quest - 1nce Again, Get A Hold, Keeping It Moving, Stressed Out, Word Play from "Beat, Rhymes, & Life" CD/LP 1996
Busta Rhymes - Keep It Movin', Still Shinin' from "The Coming" CD/LP 1996
Busta Rhymes - Woo-Hah!! (Jay-Dee Bounce Remix), Woo-Hah!! 12" single 1996
Busta Rhymes - It's a Party (Ummah Remix), Ill Vibe (Ummah Remix) 12" single 1996
De La Soul - Stakes Is High from "Stakes Is High" CD/LP 1996
De La Soul - Stakes Is High (Remix) from Itzsoweezee 12" single 1996