A new J Dilla documentary is set to be released via the streaming platforms Hulu and TV network FX.
The prolific producer is credited for changing the sound of hip-hop, proving influential to many – including the likes of Kanye West – with unique lo-fi style of beat-making and drum programming.
A new documentary, called The Legacy of J Dilla, will be a part of The New York Times Presents series, produced with FX, and is described as “an intimate portrait” of Dilla’s life and legacy.
‘The Legacy of J Dilla’ original documentary is coming to FX / Hulu on April 7th, courtesy of the New York Times.
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— Andrew Barber (@fakeshoredrive) March 28, 2023
It has been 15 years since the tragic passing of Dilla, and his family have now given The New York Times Presents full access to his life and story. The Detroit native was known for producing hits for Erykah Badu (‘Didn’t Cha Know’), Common (‘The Light’), and Q-Tip (‘Vivrant Thing’).
The documentary, directed and produced by Christopher Frierson and Esther Dere, will include Dilla’s family and chronicle the unfortunate circumstances surrounding his estate and legacy following his 2006 death.
“I’m a Detroiter, and I’m a fighter,” his mother Maureen Yancey, told TV Insider. “I will stay in there, and I will fight. I won’t let anybody put my son down, what I do for him down, because I’m here to lift up his music, his legacy.”
The Legacy of J Dilla is set to be released on April 7 via Hulu.
In other news, it was recently announced that Questlove is executively producing Dilla Time – a “part biography, part musicology, and part musical meditation” that is an adaptation of Dan Charnas’ 2022 biography Dilla Time: The Life And Afterlife of J Dilla, The Hip Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm.