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An architect of the West Coast hip-hop sound gathers some friends to salute an all-time great.

DILLA JAZZ Featuring DJ Battlecat with J. Rocc featuring special guest Bilal + The Pocket Queen, Daru Jones, Cameron Graves, Medusa The Gangsta Goddess, Cocoa Sarai + DJ Wyldeflower and special guests!

Hosted by LeRoy Downs

Produced in Partnership with Just Jazz and Fusicology

Celebrating Legacy: Boom Bap, Hip Hop and Jazz

The late James Dewitt Yancey—better known as J Dilla—was one of the most celebrated and influential record producers of all time. Before his passing in 2006, he created beats for A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Janet Jackson, the Roots, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Ghostface Killah, Common, and a host of other Artists, that exalted J Dilla’s uncanny and innate ability to defy the conventional sounds of hip hop by introducing the intersectionality of hip hop and jazz.

From his earliest days as a member of Slum Village through his essential solo collection Donuts, Dilla treated hip-hop production like jazz: developing swinging rhythms, embracing imperfection, and letting his samples speak to one another. 

Kevin “DJ Battlecat” Gilliam, also a legendary producer (Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, The Game, Faith Evans, Tha Eastsidaz) and architect of West Coast hip-hop, brings together special guests to celebrate what would have been Dilla’s 50th birthday with live jazz and hip-hop recreations of some of his most iconic beats.