Had he not passed away on Feb. 10, 2006, beloved hip-hop producer J Dilla would have turned 38 years young Tuesday. Although his official cause of death is cardiac arrest, Dilla suffered from a rare blood disorder called thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.

In honor of J Dilla's birthday, his premature passing and his awesomeness, we are going to post one must-hear track every day until Friday.

Happy birthday, J Dilla, and rest in peace! More >>

​Had he not passed away on Feb. 10, 2006, beloved hip-hop producer J Dilla would have turned 38 years young Tuesday.

In honor of J Dilla's birthday, his passing (Dilla suffered from thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, although is official cause of death is cardiac arrest) and his awesomeness, we are going to post one must-hear track every day until Friday.

Happy birthday J Dilla and rest in peace! More >>

​Had he not passed away on Feb. 10, 2006, beloved hip-hop producer J Dilla would have turned 38 years young yesterday.

In honor of J Dilla's birthday, his passing (Dilla suffered from thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, although is official cause of death is cardiac arrest) and his awesomeness, we are going to post one must-hear track every day until Friday.

Happy birthday J Dilla and rest in peace!


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​Had he not passed away on Feb. 10, 2006, beloved hip-hop producer J Dilla would have turned 38 years young today.

Not the household name of say a Dr. Dre, Timbaland or Jermaine Dupri, the man born James Dewitt Yancey was -- and remains -- an underground hip-hop icon thanks to his work with De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes, Common and MF Doom. Dilla was part of the Detroit-based groups 1st Down and Slum Village.


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​In 1962, Neil Sedaka said everything that needs to be said about ending relationships when he sang, "breaking up is hard to do." It's simple in an "aw shucks" 1960s pop song sort of way, but the tune's direct approach has not meant the end of the break-up song. In fact, we've got some pretty dandy ones the past few years, the kind that make you almost forget that guy/girl/celebrity crush who just won't return your fan mail who ripped out your heart, spit on it and fed it to his/her dog for dinner. Almost.

Here, for your misery and heartache, are five recent songs that say everything about breaking up that you never could.
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​From the man who brought us "Rifles Burs" and "Snacks" comes a new song/video called "Imdabes." It's already blowing up Youtube, so I'm going to go head and call it now: It's an instant classic, the kind you don't take home to mother.

On the track, Gillionaire tells listeners that he "be the one that win Street Fighter tournaments," "got the highest score in the world on my SAT" and that he's in the best at "watching all them '90s videos -- Power Rangers, All That, Kenan & Kel."
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Most people who grew up in the early '80s were lucky enough to witness MTV's revolutionary images but for many of us, who were just in grade school at the time, the cutting-edge visuals that appeared before us were too conceptual for us to comprehend.

It wasn't until the early '90s (when we were allowed more TV time) that we could really sit and process the music videos, and were able to differentiate our musical tastes. Also, by this time MTV's original programming had began to launch several new shows, so MTV wasn't just a musical haven but was slowly becoming a mecca for all things cool and thought provoking.

So while the generation before us had Michael Jackson's "Thriller," we had yet to experience high-budgeted, mega, videos until way later. And that was just the beginning.

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​. . . Okay, at least, according to the folks over at Reddit. The Left Rights' video for "I'm On Crack" is admittedly pretty awesome. You've got crack, you've got cats (and a line that goes something like, "It's like cats, cats, cats cats cats/Back in the day, it's like cats cat cats"), you've got a pretty catchy tune, and hey, parts of the video were even filmed on Long Beach's First Street.
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