From okayplayer.com:

This is an exteme­ly sad day. We have lost one of the great­est pro­duc­ers of all time, peri­od. That fact is not even up for debate. For us fans and for those that were lucky enough to know Dil­la, this is a tough pill to swal­low. What makes it worse is know­ing that the major­i­ty of the hip hop world will not mourn this loss like those in our com­mu­ni­ty. We can only hope that one day the world will know his music the way die hard Dil­la fans do, and he will posthu­mous­ly recieve the respect and admi­ra­tion that his influ­ence com­mands. RIP Dil­la Dog.
~newguy

James Yancey passed around 8:00 this morn­ing in Los Ange­les, Cal­i­for­nia. His lat­est album, Donuts, was released ear­li­er this week.

Addi­tion­al read­ing: Jay Dee’s last days (from Detroit Free Press)