Contributed by ONI on 2/7/08
Mos Def and his Big Band put on a show January 21 at the University of Michigan titled: A Tribute to J Dilla in honor of the late hip hop producer who passed away almost two years ago. Interestingly, this concert was hosted by the normally hip-hop free University Musical Society on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The University of Michigan has traditionally had no school on this day in favor of seminars and celebrations of King’s message for years now. So if we view this event as another seminar, Def had a daunting challenge at hand. He needed to entertain and educate. Def was even presented with a plaque and knighted by the school as honorary professor midway through the concert. When the crowd shouted for Mos Def, he jokingly replied, “That’s Professor Def to you.” But did Professor Def’s performance that night truly warrant such a commemorative title?
Having the pleasure of listening to the acoustics coming from a 30 million dollar, world-renowned venue (the newly renovated Hill Auditorium) was a new experience. I believe that this new ambience was necessary in order to get the full experience of the not so big Big Band. I say not so big because it was composed of only six members: a piano/keyboard player, bassist, a drummer, trombonist, saxophonist, and a dude that played not only the keytar, but a vocoder and a flute as well, all flawlessly. On top of that, to hear some of Dilla’s classics like “Ms. Fat Booty” played live from such amazing musicians is something very few fans can boast to ever have seen. Def was especially energetic on this particular day. I thought to myself during the concert, if he can have this same excitement in the studio, it’s possible that he still may be able to put out an album that can match the ‘true magic’ of Black on Both Sides.
I was truly entertained. But my expectations were high.
You see, Professor Def had an obligation that needed to be met. His face was on all the flyers for this event as opposed to Dilla’s and his name was also in the bigger font. It was very easy to ignore the fact that this had anything to do at all with Jay Dee. This is why I believe it was even more critical that Mos really educate the crowd about Dilla and his contributions to the neo-soul movement of which he helped to create. Mos Def had an obligation to showcase this movement and to explain how Dilla fits it to this. Let’s not forget that this isn’t the typical concert. We have to critique this performance with more scrutiny than your average hip hop act. Mos was to stick to the MLK Day theme while celebrating the life and musical contributions of J Dilla as a black leader. I don’t believe he did this.
My opinion is that the Mighty Mos failed to really pay tribute to Dilla like he should have. Yea his Big Band did do justice replaying Dilla’s work (the voice synthesizing of the choruses was wonderful), but he just didn’t explain to us at all or even hint at why J Dilla deserves to be praised on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. I don’t know about what everyone else thought, but generic statements like, “Dilla loved music” and “his dream was to have his music played live” didn’t sound genuine enough for me. No anecdotes about Dilla? No words of wisdom? Did he inspire you? Did you inspire him? Truthfully, WHAT DOES MOS DEF KNOW ABOUT J DILLA? They really only did a few songs together, I think. I’m actually not exactly sure. I would know, but he never told me.
Mos certainly had plenty of time to speak about Dilla throughout the concert including when the Big Band left during the honorary professorship presentation. There were also at times awkward pauses between songs because he really had nothing to say. I would describe him like a young college instructor on the first day of class reading the PowerPoint slides word-for-word instead of providing his own insight about the subject matter. The Prof probably won’t be getting tenure any time soon. This tribute show wasn’t the most insightful ‘seminar’ I’ve ever been to, but then again, the entertainment value was there and I probably wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
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COMMENTS
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I agree with the sentiment that Mos Def did not present a clear message to the audience– I also left without really feeling anything about Jay Dee specifically or having learned the significance. However, I did find out after reading the article published in The Michigan Daily that my lack of understanding was partially caused by my inability to recognize what songs he was trying to incorporate in the performance. After reading that article I found that while I didn’t recognize the music, he was expressing tribute through mixing and performing J-Dilla compositions. When these were named (and there were many) I realized how I might have percieved the performance differently if I were more versed in J-Dilla’s discography. I don’t think this pays tribute in an academic sense so maybe he shouldn’t be called “Professor Def”, but he expressed his tribute to J-Dilla through his music and that’s all I expected.
I must say that this event seemed confused and partially-forced. I cannot imagine this was Mos Def’s idea. If it was, I would think he would have made a much more concerted effort to include other folks to perform with him.
An interesting - no, fitting - tribute show would have included The Roots and Common , which I’m sure Mos has their numbers on his smartphone.
I definitely understand the scUM (just jokes) student’s sentiments, being that if one who was a fan of Mos Def and paid $XX to see him perform, only to hear him rhyming / scatting over beats he’s never heard of before, I’d be a bit confused too.
I knew every song that Mos attempted to do justice. The band was tight. Mos knew most of the words. I don’t understand why Mos didn’t commission original members of Slum Village to play actual Slum Village songs [since they live only 40 minutes away], especially when it seemed Mos may have just learned the words. There was one point where he went behind the piano to read a piece of paper, which… yeah, I’m wondering what was on that.
Anyway, in terms of tributes, it was pretty lackluster to me. I am not the biggest Mos Def fan. I do respect the man, especially in terms of his activist work and his movie roles. Musically, he has lost me. I must say I was glad he didn’t try to include more of his own work into the set, because that would have been devastating since I came there to see a DILLA tribute. At the same time, I noticed that it seemed like Mos Def was booked to play first, then the idea to do a tribute for MLK Day second. I guess I cannot be that mad… $80 for 2 tickets later. o rly.
Whatever whatever though, I will wait for The Roots to do something. I imagine ?uestlove will do it properly and I’ll go just about anywhere to see that transpire.
Prop to scUM (again, just jokes) for trying.
I was thinking the same thing about Slum. I don’t seem them turning it down outright or demanding too much money to where it would have broken the show’s budget.
I can see not having Common or the Roots - because it would have cost too much - but not having SV didn’t make sense when Mos was doing their verses.
Also, I think that piece of paper was probably a set list. If i remember correctly, he checked it right after the first song/into and he didnt really do many verses for a while afterwards, so it wouldnt seem like there were lyrics on it he was trying to remember.
I thought the show was okay. The band didn’t seem all that great to me…there were points in the performance where it seemed like they just got lost. Then again I’ve seen The Roots perform many times, so I guess my expectations were too high. They did a decent job though. “The $, Fantastic,Thelonius,Stakes is High stood out..E=MC2 too. I got the improv notion, but as vast as Dilla’s cataloge is, I would have liked to hear more songs! At some point, a twenty minute song comes off as trying to fill time.
Being that I flew in from North Carolina, I was kinda hoping to see him perform with other artists that he worked with from The D. I do believe that Slum Village was on tour in Europe at the time though…don’t take that as gospel though. There were still a gang of solid artists right there in The D though. I was kinda hoping to see them. Would have been cool to see Mom Dukes too. I know one can’t have EVERYTHING they want..but I’m just saying. lol
My thing was that on paper, it had the potential to be CRAAAAZZY! They really could have banged it out. I just hope that people left the performance with some sort of feel for J Dilla’s contribution to music. Even if they were confused about the show, perhaps their curiosity about Dilla grew and they will seek things out on their own.
Any idea how much money was donated to the J Dilla Foundation as a result of ticket sales…like per ticket?
Oh and Ms. Phat Booty wasn’t produced by Dilla..
I am a Detroiter now living in California and when I heard about the event I felt a tinge of jealousy
It would’ve been a event I would’ve like to see firsthand. Does anyone know if video or music will be released of it?
I’m not sure if this is totally correct but House Shoes (the Godfather of Dilla tracks) said Ma Dukes only got ONE DOLLAR from every ticket. I paid $35, so if that is true I should smack Mos in the face, rob him and give Ma Dukes the loot!
By the way I was the one who gave him those cd’s when he went in the crowd, if ur shoppin for beats and want a copy of the tracks email me at alogenius@gmail.com. Real rappers only.
“Oh and Ms. Phat Booty wasn’t produced by Dilla..”
Really??, then I wonder why Mos chose to do that song at the show…
Actually, wanderlust is right, it wasn’t produced by Dilla. It was produced by Ayatollah who did a lot of other work with Rawkus artists at the time including “My Life” by Styles P and Pharoahe Monch.
I’m not sure why he decided to do that song at the show - maybe that was just Mos lettin’ his own catalog live at a Mos Def show.