R.I.P. Jay Dilla

Four years ago yesterday, on February 10th, 2006, producer J Dilla died from a rare blood disease. This happened just three days after his thirty-second birthday, as well as the release of his final album, Donuts, which he created while in the hospital. He is nearly universally acclaimed by many of the best artists out there, including Pete Rock, Madlib, Pharrell, MF Doom, Common, J. Rocc, and Kanye West. He hailed from Detroit and started out in the group Slum Village in the mid 1990's. During that time and afterwards he branched out and produced tracks and albums for a number of prominent rap solo artists and groups, as well as releasing his own instrumental albums. Any of his work is much more than worth listening to. Let's hear what Common has to say:

Also, here is a video from his posthumous album entitled The Shining. Dilla is handling the production, the MC is his younger brother Illa J, and you can spot a number of other recognizable hip-hop artists in it as well.