A Year to Reflect on Dilla

Next March, it will be the 10 year anniversary of the murder of Biggie. Last week marked seven years since the passing of Big Pun (damn we’re fucking old right?). And yesterday was 365 days since we lost J Dilla. The last decade has given us time to start putting some perspective on Big’s death and his place in history (top 1 to some, top 20 at the very least to any real hip hop head). Pun will take some more time to completely place, but to any MC or anyone who studies MCs, he is without question one of the top few pure MCs to date. In the case of Dilla, I think it really only took a year without him to realize just how great he was.

I have no idea what is to come for hip hop. Maybe Black Milk will prove to be better or maybe Havoc is about to turn into a super MC and start producing right and left. Or maybe there won’t be another “great” producer/MC for another decade. So obviously this asessment can only speak to those who came before Dilla or up til now. That said, Dilla has etched his place as the greatest producer/MC of all time.

Now one has to point out that Dilla’s popularity and consensus greatness has definitely sky rocketed since his death among hipsters and biters. But to everyone who had been watching his style emerge and grow since the mid nineties, his passing only solidified the hunches we always had.

Even as a Dilla fan since the early days, his death still affected me. You can’t help but listen a bit closer. When you know a genius is gone, you have to search for more than you saw when the artist was alive. In the case of Dilla, this deeper search and review of his catalogue is more satisfying than with anyone else I can remember.

I tried several times to meet or interview Dilla but was never able to pull it off (pause). I have interviewed or at least shot the shit with pretty much everyone of relevance in the last 10 years or so, but was never able to get up with the MOST relevant artist of that period. I interviewed slum, but Dilla wasn’t there. I saw Dilla perform, but didn’t have credentials. You know the story. As a result of never meeting him, he is almost something of fiction to me.

His catalogue is very real, however. In fact, you can try to take any producer/mc’s catalogue and it won’t be able to stand up next to Dilla’s. But I guess it’s worth asking, who is the competition?

Dr. Dre??

No matter how much people have tried to slander the Doctor’s name in recent years (”Scott Storch and Mel-Man do all his beats!!”), he is without question one of the top three or four producers of all time. As an MC, though? He’s no Dilla. Sorry.

Erick Sermon??

I mean who doesn’t love the Green-Eyed Bandit?? He’s amazing. He has made classic albums for EPMD, Redman, and his first two solo albums were pretty slept on. He is a legend and pioneer. As an MC, though—he’s fun, but average.

So who does that leave? Q-Tip? I mean that would be a potentially legitimate claim, but Dilla did half of the great beats Tip has gotten credit for and in actuality, if Tip is a better MC, it’s not by much.

So you can keep trying to come up with people, but you will find it’s impossible. Seeing as Dilla is a top five all time producer and in my oppinion top 1 producer, it becomes hard to find another producer whose mic skills are good enough to not only pass Dilla as an MC, but overshadow his skills behind the boards.

I nervously watched the Grammys last night—sure that they would manage to forget to mention Dilla’s passing. I was pleasently surprised, though. During their dedication to those who have passed in the last year, Dilla was one of the last few mentioned, and they even played the Common joint off of “The Shining”. I felt the hip hop world collectively smile.