The collection was a surprise discovery.

Jeff Bubeck, owner of Royal Oak, MI record store UHF, made an interesting find. When sifting through the seven- or eight-thousand records he obtained from an abandoned storage unit last month, he discovered a box containing cassettes labeled “Jay Dee Beats”, along with mail addressed to a “James Yancey”. At first the name meant nothing to him, but he Googled it on a whim and was surprised at what he found.

James Yancey, of course, was the feted late hip-hop producer known as J Dilla or Jay Dee, who died in 2006 of complications from lupus and the rare blood disease TTP. He had a prolific career as a producer, and was a consummate crate digger, acquiring thousands upon thousands of records in search of obscure samples. The collection Bubeck found contains many records that can be obtained cheaply, but also some that are quite rare and valuable.

Bubeck, upon his discovery, attempted to contact J Dilla’s mother, Maureen “Ma Dukes” Yancey. While he was unsuccessful at reaching her, he did manage to get in touch with Stones Throw, the label that was home to the producer for many years. He plans to share part of the profits from the sale of the records with the J Dilla Foundation, which Maureen Yancey established after J Dilla’s death to help treat and cure lupus.

While he is still going through the cache of records, Bubeck was able to get the first of them on shelves in time for last Saturday’s Record Store Day.

[via The Detroit News]

Latest

Latest



		
	
Share Tweet