So, it is 12:46 am and we just walked in from an incredible night at the Luckman Theater in LA. We saw a 40 piece orchestra, under the direction of uber-hip conductor, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, do a symphonic tribute to J-Dilla and his work. It was amazing! The place was packed and the arrangements were so fabulous that words could not describe how beautiful they were! Halfway through the show I found myself thinking, "Self, you are part of a beautiful collective moment"! The work was called, "A Suite of Ma Dukes", Dilla's mother. Ma Dukes was not only in the house, but sitting a few seat away from me. We spoke briefly at the intermission and she gave me a big hug. I asked her how she was feeling about seeing her son's work like this. She said, "This is an historic moment. This is something that we never get to see and I am completely overwhelmed by the amount of love that I feel from this work and everyone here". It is true, that we rarely see the art form of hip-hop "elevated" to the orchestral level, but hearing Dilla's work portrayed this way made so much sense...probably because his music was so melodic. Some of hip-hops luminaries came out to be a part of the event as well. Common, Posdenous (De La Soul), Dwele, Bilal, Illa J, J*Davey, Amp Fiddler, Shafiq Husayn (Sa-Ra), Kareem Riggins and Talib Kweli all made surprise cameos which only made the night more stellar! ZEven better, almost everyone signed my poster of the event! There is one last event in this trilogy of events in honor of Dilla and I suggest that if you are in town, that you come out and support. For more info visit: www.artdontsleep.org.
Yes, that show was an experience!
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