J Dilla to Have Street Named After Him in His Hometown of Detroit

The late J Dilla is going to have a street named after him.

The Detroit News is reporting that the legendary producer is one of five native sons to get the honor in the Motor City.

Dilla; his mentor Joseph Anthony “Amp” Fiddler, who gave him his first drum machine; Vincent Chin, whose racially motivated murder in 1982 spurred protests and the formation of the American Citizens for Justice coalition; former Detroit Pistons star Earl Cureton; and local community leader Horace Sheffield Jr. make up the list chosen by the Historic Designation Advisory Board after they reviewed 13 honorees submitted by petitioners across the city.

Sheffield’s granddaughter, City Council President Mary Sheffield, said of the honorees, “Everyone here that was recommended is notable, is honorable, has done great things for our city, and we appreciate that this is very difficult for us to only select five.”

Jay Dee’s honorary street sign will sit at the corner of Nevada and Charest Streets, close to where his family home where he recorded in a basement studio. Amp Fiddler’s street sign will be on the corner of Seven Mile Road and Revere Avenue, the neighborhood where he was raised.

Rap journalist Dan Charnas — author of The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop and Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm — thanked the city council and Dilla’s and Amp’s fans. “You know some of Detroit’s famous thoroughfares named for notable citizens: Woodward, John R., Cass. Joining them now will be two more: Yancey and Fiddler. Thanks to the city council and congratulations to everyone who worked to put these two important Detroiters on the map,” he tweeted.

J Dilla died from a combination of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and lupus complications in 2006 at age 32, while Fiddler died last year after a battle with cancer at the age of 65.