Video: A Conversation With Ma Dukes

Our fellow J Dilla stans at KillerBoomBox TV just posted this interview they conducted with the amazing Ma Dukes, recorded at upmarket sneaker spot The Bodega on the occasion of Dilla Day, Boston. Among other interesting tidbits that come up in the 13-minute edited Q&A is the fact that music actually brought James Yancey into being in the first place, as his mom relates how she met Dilla's father--a jazz musician--when she auditioned to sing with him. We also get some anecdotes about how she pushed him away from music into a career in aerotech engineering--even while she was keeping him dipped in silk shirts to match his moniker DJ Silk. The most newsworthy snippet comes towards the end, where Ms. Yancey relates that the Ummah almost never formed--around the time Jay Dee started getting production credits on Majr Label releases, Ummah co-founder Q-Tip and of all people R&B legend Babyface were engaged in something of a bidding war to sign him to a production deal. My favorite part, though, is still the image of an 11-month old Dilla in his playpen, 'dancing like a nutcase' to the sounds of James Brown.

props to KBBTV