Jay Dee

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Biography

Jay Dee was born James Dewitt Yancey on February 7, 1974 in Detroit, Michigan to Maureen and Beverly Yancey. From the onset, music was intrinsic to Jay’s life. His mother Maureen was an accomplished singer and lover of classical music and opera. His father Beverly was a gifted vocalist and bass player fond of vocal harmonies and jazz, who played professionally for 25 years before taking a job at Ford. A two-year-old Jay would gurgle along in perfect pitch to the sound of his father practicing on his upright bass until it lulled him to sleep.

Especially aware of the dangers that faced unoccupied youths growing up in their Detroit neighborhood of Conant Gardens, the Yancey’s set out to keep their children as busy as possible between cub scouts, music lessons, youth choir, and any other church activities. Nurturing their son’s early passion for music, Jay was always enrolled in some kind of music class, excelling on the piano, violin and cello, before moving on to the drums. But it was the lure of the boom-bap which ultimately moved him from the church pews to the studio.

“When I heard Run DMC’s ‘Sucker MCs’ and Whodini’s ‘Big Mouth’, it made me curious to how the beats were made. Those songs were the first time I heard the beats that weren’t melodic - just drums. Being someone who was taking drum lessons at the time, that made me real curious. That led me into deejaying, which slowly led to me deejsying parties and that eventually led me into production.”

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  • Mendeleaf

    Man. I loafted on this guy. But still his impact in hiphop can be heard. Kudos

    31 May 1:06am Reply
  • JustDealWithIt

    What are his best tapes? I've got Vintage Vol. 2 and the beat cd's 1-4...what are his next best tapes?

    23 May 11:18am Reply
  • adamcooleyisdea

    dilla dilla dilla [echo] *siren sound*

    1 Mar 10:54pm Reply
  • davidboost

    Happy bday, J!

    7 Feb 11:37pm Reply
  • green_arrow

    genius

    20 Jan 12:35pm Reply
  • shiyona

    EL PULENTO

    17 Dec 2012 Reply
  • V1c70r-1337

    веееееееееери нааааааайс

    2 Jul 2012 Reply
  • coffeeandpigs

    you gotta admit a Jay Dee and Dilla collab would be ill though [6]

    2 May 2012 Reply
  • KingKRool

    l o l

    28 Apr 2012 Reply
  • theory-hazit

    No Collab [1]

    23 Apr 2012 Reply
  • senorcarlos93

    you gotta admit a Jay Dee and Dilla collab would be ill though [5] one on the beats and one on the mic right?

    10 Apr 2012 Reply
  • Music-Ninja

    you gotta admit a Jay Dee and Dilla collab would be ill though [4]

    28 Mar 2012 Reply
  • green_arrow

    SPLFFF made me LOLFFF

    17 Mar 2012 Reply
  • SPLFFF

    shut up with all your combining shit, you shits. it's all music, why does it matter? just fuckin play the music and enjoy it. stop complaining about free shit. fuckin posers

    21 Feb 2012 Reply
  • deworde

    you gotta admit a Jay Dee and Dilla collab would be ill though [3] Made my day :D

    14 Feb 2012 Reply
  • tyrealg

    you gotta admit a Jay Dee and Dilla collab would be ill though [2] hahaha

    12 Feb 2012 Reply
  • tamatamaload

    Jay dee day..

    10 Feb 2012 Reply
  • Awakethepoet

    Even a noob can read a wiki. #shouldbeobviousethatjaydeeanddillaarethesame

    8 Feb 2012 Reply
  • smwxs

    you gotta admit a Jay Dee and Dilla collab would be ill though

    5 Feb 2012 Reply
  • DudeJo

    "Last donut of the night" makes me wanna cry. We all miss this man. Rest in peace, wherever u are. Spliff, i feel sorry for u.

    8 Jan 2012 Reply
  • All 259 shouts