http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060224/ENT04/602240354
Service praises hip-hop maestro
Speakers say Detroiter Jay Dee will live on in song
February 24, 2006
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BY KELLEY L. CARTER
FREE PRESS MUSIC WRITER
There was no casket or body -- those were buried back in Los Angeles on Valentine's Day.
It was just as well, too, because the traditional signals that life has been taken away wouldn't have been appropriate at this memorial service. It was all about toasting the life of a music maker who put the beat to Detroit hip-hop, and in many ways, the world.
On Thursday afternoon, the life of James Yancey -- better known as music producer J Dilla or Jay Dee -- was celebrated inside a packed church on Detroit's west side. Instead of outward mourning, there were cheers and handclaps and head nods, with just about anyone who spoke saying that as long as his music is heard, Yancey will never really be gone.
The music producer, who worked with some of the biggest names in national hip-hop and R&B, along with his Detroit group Slum Village, died on Feb. 10, three days after his 32nd birthday, following a long battle with a rare blood disease. His latest album, "Donuts," was released on his birthday.
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For Dilla