Brightest Young Things

all photos: Zachary Repko
all words: Mitchell London

According to some cursory Googling, about 100 people die every minute. From this, we can gather that about 146,000 people die every day, about 53,290,000 people die every year, and about 213,160,000 have died since Feb 10, 2006, the day that James Yancey succumbed to a rare blood disease. Yet, on Feb 12, 2010, I did not attend 213,160,000 celebrations. I did not attend a Vonnegut Vigil, or a Issac Hayes Happy Hour, or a David Festival Wallace. No. 100+ friendly strangers and I attended Dilla Day.

Why Dilla?

J Dilla tunes, curated by Jerome Baker III and managed with relentless consistency by a slew of DJs, interuppted only by the occasional t-shirt giveaway, were the center of the party's attention. Most conversations that I took part in referenced, if not focused exclusively on the perspicacity of one J Dilla. And under the emulsifying agents of free PBR and Dilla's trademark Rhodes, the main activity at the event was prayer-like head bobbing*. Like the Dude's rug, Dilla's music really tied the room together. Watching everyone enmeshed in such a communal good-times-type atmosphere led me to some truly nerdish music naval gazing. How can a one little-known rap producer command full-store attention five years after his death? How can his influence stretch from Ghostface and MF DOOM to Panda Bear and Bibio? Dilla was able to attain such otherworldly influence and regard because he was true to his values.

Dilla was, first and foremost, a thinking-man's rap producer. He did not seek out the hottest Timbo synths or flavor-of-the-month drum sounds. When Kanye was awarded the "new-soul rap producer of our generation," Dilla did not run and dig crates for Nina Simone samples to speed them up. That said, he did not treat his laid-back, head-knocking style as some sacrosanct writ. A one-hour scan through his catalog revealed Dilla to be as versatile as he was sharp. In a fifteen minute span, I heard the battle-rap thump of Raekwon's "House of Flying Daggers," the bubbly, spaced-out funk of Busta Rhymes and Q-Tip's "Ill Vibe," and several sternum-aimed cuts from Champion Sound. Several times during the evening, I was forced to stop bobbing my head, turn to my neighbor and say, "Wait, this was a Dilla beat?" To which he'd reply: "Yeah, I didn't know before tonight. But it makes total sense, right?"

It did.

Unlike most famous rap producers, who find niches and punish them, working their ways into unrecoverable ruts (are you listening, Lil Jon? Eminem?), Dilla was confident enough to let his keen ear for quality and innovation guide his direction. It took him lots of places, including, but not limited to the nodding heads and beating hearts at Stussy last Friday night.

*Besides taking pictures. Was there a run on a DSLR wholesaler recently? How does everyone and their kid sister have a big camera these days?

Previously in Live DC:

• 2/13: LiveDC: Veronica Falls/ Brilliant Colors @ Black Cat
• 2/13: LIVE DC: Steve Aoki/ Datsik/ Alvin Risk @ Fillmore
• 2/13: LiveDC: The Darkness @ 930 Club
• 2/9: LiveDC: Theophilus London @ 930 Club
• 2/9: Best Weekend Bets
• 2/8: LiveDC: Kathleen Edwards @ 930 Club
• 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
• 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
• 2/7: LiveDC: Demetri Martin @ Warner Theatre
• 2/7: LiveDC: Augustana/ Graffiti6 @ 930 Club