So last night, I headed uptown to check out the J Dilla memorial/fundraiser in East London. I didn’t have any info on who was putting the night on or anything like that - I later found out it was The Doctor’s Orders (who put on Evil Dee last October), in conjunction with Lupus UK. All I knew is that it would be all Dilla, all night – which is absolutely fine with me. It was myself and Caramac aka Mr. Make The Cheque Out To… aka The Hatin’ Bajan rolling, but we met up with a few of the mandem that I hadn’t seen in a minute – Kyza, Artcha and Iron Braydz – Whattup?!

Anyway – we got in just after the venue opened and the DJ was spinning some of the jazzier Dilla material, but even that was driving some of the patrons nuts. Cargo had filled up real quick – commiserations to those who didn’t make it in – and by the time they were done with the Dilla breaks portion of the evening, the packed house was up for hearing the bangers. Damn. Big up to SpinDoctor, Mr. Thing and Harry Love &  Shortee Blitz, who was on hypeman duty. At one point Blitz promised that there would be no Soulja Boy played, only to hear a sole voice, which may or may not have belonged to The Hatin’ Bajan replying. “YOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUU!” (Big big up Mr. Thing, by the way - this is the second party in 3 months I’ve seen him destroy) they got the whole room bouncing from front to back and event let a couple of people go karaoke. Fuck The Police was classic, McNasty Filth was disgusting, The Light was exquisite and I think even the people queuing up outside sang along to Fall In Love. I had to break out around 11:30 – half an hour before the end – which means I missed Won’t Do. A great night for a good cause, but make sure you arrive early next year.

And here’s something I stumbled across earlier – a bunch of Dilla anecdotes from some of his closest friends and collaborators…

Thanks to hiphopdx.com