J Dilla

One of hip hop's most influential DJs and producers, J Dilla packed a lot in before his premature death at 32 in 2006. Raised in Detroit by a musical family (his mother was an opera singer and his father a jazz bassist), and collecting vinyl from a young age, he developed a love of hip hop and formed the Slum Village rap group with T3 and Baatin, making their mark with debut album Fan-Tas-Tic (Vol. 1) in 1997. After adopting the name Jay Dee, he gained a reputation as one of hip hop's most exciting producers for his remixes of tracks for Janet Jackson, Pharcyde, De La Soul, Busta Rhymes and A Tribe Called Kwest. Major label second album Fantastic Vol. 2 in 2000 saw Slum Village's popularity soar; and his star rose even further when his Janet Jackson-produced single Got 'Til It's Gone won a Grammy Award. He changed his name to J Dilla after leaving Slum Village in 2001 to release his solo debut album Welcome 2 Detroit and was subsequently signed by major label MCA for his second rap album Pay Jay in 2003, collaborating with producers like Kanye West, Madlib, Pete Rock, Hi-Tek and Waajeed. It led to his formation of Jaylib with Madlib to release the album Champion Sound (2003) followed by a major tour. He subsequently became seriously ill with a rare blood disease but continued to work, appearing in a wheelchair on a European tour in 2005 but died in 2006 shortly after the release of his final album Donuts. Karriem Riggins then completed The Shining, another album Dilla had been working on before his death, which was released later in 2006.