Birmingham isn’t new to hosting J Dilla tributes. If you’ve celebrated Dilla Day in the city over the past fifteen years, you’re bound to recall at least one February evening dedicated to the legacy of James Dewitt Yancey,  the super-producer whose soundscapes and use of samples challenged the boundaries of modern music. Maybe it was an afternoon in 2010 at Charlemagne Records, complete with DJ sets and free donuts, a nod to the studio album J Dilla released on his birthday—February 7, 2006—three days before his death. Or perhaps one of the numerous sessions at PLUM Bar in downtown Birmingham. Or Skycastle in Lakeview. Or Communicating Vessels, the independent record label in Woodlawn.

More recently, you might remember the session in 2022 when Angel Perez and Roderick Moody— better known as Suazeand DJ Rahdu, or, collectively, The Shure Shot Djs—invited Jon “DJ Supreme” Malone to bless the evening and spin a special guest set in honor of J Dilla at Rhythm & Brews, their monthly pop-up at Birmingham District Brewing Company. While the set wasn’t long, the mission was accomplished: a celebration with DJs and like-minded people gathered to salute the music, life, and legacy of J Dilla.

This year, six of Birmingham’s hip hop veterans — DJ Modernaire, Suaze, DJ Rahdu, DJ Supreme, DJFX, and  Shaheed Tawheed— are gearing up for a new type of J Dilla tribute. In lieu of only an evening, the new event will be a two-day celebration officially sanctioned by J Dilla’s mother, Maureen “Ma Dukes” Yancey and the James Dewitt Yancey Foundation. 

Initially, there were no solid plans to host a grand J Dilla celebration this year. But that changed when Denard Jones, also known as DJ Modernaire, reached out to DJ Supreme and DJ Rahdu to inquire about organizing a tribute event. Supreme and Rahdu put Modernaire in contact with the James Dewitt Yancey Foundation, and Modernaire set the wheels in motion to get an official blessing from Maureen Yancey.

Suaze and Rahdu already had a date for the event in mind: Feb. 11, the day of their monthly pop-up at Birmingham District. Once the date, place, and time were set, the plans snowballed and the event went from sets by  DJ Supreme, Modernaire, and Rahdu to include sessions from Suaze and Fred French, popularly known as DJFX. The celebration lineup also expanded from one day to two— the group added a Sunday workshop from DJ Supreme and Shaheed’s K.R.U., the duo’s music education nonprofit.

“Ma Dukes put her stamp on it. So now it’s an officially recognized J Dilla event and not just a Dillla Day celebration per se,” said Supreme.

The stamp of approval from Maureen Yancey also marks another achievement—the establishment of an official chapter of the J Dilla Foundation in Birmingham.

The collection of events will be known as Dilla Day BHM 2023: two days devoted to honoring the musical legacy of J Dilla.

“It’s gonna be life-changing,” said Supreme. “We’re definitely going to touch some souls on Saturday and Sunday.”

Day one of Dilla Day BHM 2023 kicks off at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 11 at Birmingham District Brewing Company. From 5:15 to 9 p.m., Shaheed will emcee a night of hip hop as DJ Modernaire, Suaze, DJ Rahdu, DJ Supreme, and DJFX, spin 45-minute J Dilla-inspired sets.

“We’re definitely going to uplift the legacy of J. Dilla with his music and his production,” said Supreme.  “And it’s definitely gonna be a wonderful thing. It’s gonna be a whole lot of fun.”

Day two of Dilla Day BHM resumes at 3 p.m. on Sunday, February 12 at the Firehouse Community Arts Center in Avondale, where Shaheed and DJ Supreme will host a J Dilla-inspired iteration of K.R.U., their workshop series designed to teach youth the fundamentals of hip hop, from beat production to break dancing and graffiti.

During the Dilla Day edition of K.R.U., students will use tracks from the late producer as a blueprint to create their own.

“Dilla is considered by many to be one of the top five producers— and some have him as number one—of all time,” said Shaheed. “Our thing at K.R.U is about preserving the art form and showing respect to the musical legacy of J Dilla. And want to introduce that to the younger generation who maybe don’t know. If they don’t know about Dilla, we’ll introduce them.”

Speaking of introductions, being a J Dilla scholar isn’t essential to attend a Dilla Day celebration. In fact, critics and artists inspired by Dilla’s music say listeners aren’t even supposed to be focused on the subtleties of the late producer’s beats. The key, rather, is to simply enjoy the experience.

But for those who would like an introduction to J Dilla, Suaze has three suggestions.

“I would say listen to ‘Beats, Rhymes, and Life’ by a Tribe Called Quest. I’d say listen to ‘Labcabincalifornia’ by The Pharcyde,” said Suaze. “I would even say instrumental records like ‘Donuts.’  Back when I heard Tribe Called Quest, when I heard ‘Labcabincalifornia’, I didn’t even know who Dilla was. I just knew it was a different sound that I’d never heard before.”

“If I were to describe Dilla to someone, I would say he was a producer who was in search of his sounds,” said Rahdu, who points to Dilla’s work with De La Soul and Tribe Called Quest in the mid-nineties before branching out to work with the rotating collective of experimental artists called The Soulquarians and changing the scape of the Neo soul movement.

“He never got obstinate in his sound. There was never a point where you felt like he had reached his peak. He was always searching for what was next or always challenging himself as far as what it was he was creating,” said Rahdu. “And I appreciated that.”

Here’s the rundown of events for Dilla Day BHM 2023

Saturday, February 11

Dilla Day BHM| Birmingham District Brewery, 5-9 p.m.

DJ Modernaire, Suaze, DJ Rahdu, DJ Supreme, and DJFX will host a series of 45-minute sets in honor of J Dilla, emceed by Shaheed.

SET TIMES:

5:15-6:00 p.m.: DJ Modernaire

6:00- 6:45 p.m.: Suaze

6:45-7:30 p.m.: DJ Rahdu

7:30- 8:15 p.m.: DJ Supreme

8:15-9:00 p.m.: DJ FX

Sunday, February 12

K.R.U. Dilla Day Workshop| Firehouse Community Arts Center, 3 p.m.

Shaheed and DJ Supreme will teach an afternoon of workshops inspired by the production work of J Dilla with K.R.U., the duo’s nonprofit education initiative designed to teach youth the fundamentals of hip hop.