“THANK YOU, JAMES” : Celebrating 50 years of J-Dilla Supported by Carhartt WIP

The egendary producer J Dilla (real name: James Yancey) died in 2006 at the young age of 32, after creating numerous hip-hop classics from the 90s to the early 2000s. To celebrate his 50th birthday, "THANK YOU, JAMES: Celebrating 50 Years of J-DILLA" will be held in Shanghai, Tokyo and Osaka in this coming September.

J Dilla first came to prominence in the mid-90s producing artists such as Pharcyde, Busta Rhymes and De La Soul. He later joined The Ummah and The Soulquarians and had since worked with A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots and D'Angelo, Common, Erykah Badu and many more, while continuing to create innovative hip-hop sounds with his prodigious sense of beats. As a producer and a rapper, he'd also left masterpieces with his own group Slum Village, as Jaylib, a unit with Madlib, also as a solo artist. J Dilla's solo album Donuts, which was released just three days before his death, is one of the greatest instrumental hip-hop album in the history of hip-hop and has influenced a wide variety of artists, and his legacy has been passed on to the global music scene until now.

At "THANK YOU, JAMES: Celebrating 50 Years of J-DILLA", we will welcome Frank N Dank, Dilla's fellow hip-hop duo from Detroit, and J Dilla's real brother, Illa J. In addition to these two acts who carry on J Dilla's DNA, some artists from Japan including Budamunk, 5lack and Issugi, who were influenced by J Dilla's sound first hand, as well as artists from a new generation, who inherit Dilla's sound. The event series is a grand celebration of J Dilla's 50th birthday, showcasing the connection between J Dilla and the hip-hop scene in Japan (and China) on stage.