J Dilla - Champion Sound

Last week, just days after the release of his brand-new instrumental album, J Dilla passed away after a long battle with a rare blood disease and lupus. Though he was not yet a household name, it's very likely that you have heard his music at some point, even if you didn't realize it. He was one of the most revered producers in hip-hop (and R&B), working with a wide variety of artists on both sides of the underground/commercial spectrum.

Jay Dee first came to prominence in the mid-1990s, as part of the Ummah, making mellow yet banging beats for A Tribe Called Quest (he worked extensively on their last two albums), Labcabin-era Pharcyde, and De La Soul, among others. His sonic style was subtle and understated--lots of filtered loops, seismic bass bumps, and clean drums--and it immediately caught the ear of other artists and heads worldwide. As his rep grew bigger, his discography followed suit. The late nineties found him lacing tracks for Busta Rhymes, Janet Jackson, and Macy Gray; he also produced the bulk of Q-Tip's hate-it-or-love-it solo debut Amplified, and scored a record deal for his own group, Detroit-based Slum Village.

Postmillennium, he continued to craft top-notch beats for the likes of Common and D'Angelo, contributing classic material to Like Water for Chocolate and Voodoo, respectively. He also stayed busy doing remixes, serving as the backbone to SV, and putting out solo albums on various labels. In 2003 he signed to Stones Throw, Peanut Butter Wolf's LA-based outfit, long known for their unwavering dedication to high-quality original hip-hop. Once there, Jay Dee connected with another acclaimed beat freak/emcee, Madlib, for the much-loved collabo project Champion Sound. More recently, he hooked up Common for several cuts off his comeback album Be.

At the time of his death, he had just dropped Donuts, a supremely funky, if unconventional, rhymeless LP that was partially recorded from his hospital room. Thirty-one tracks deep, it plays like a schizophrenic beat tape, with soulful snippets merging into one other and taking the listener on a wild, unpredictable voyage through overflowing record crates and dusty vinyl grooves. He was also working on a follow-up to his BBE effort Welcome 2 Detroit, and had knocked out songs with Ghostface and MF DOOM. No matter what name he went by--Dilla, Jay Dee, or James Yancey--he was an immense talent who died too soon.

Big L - Harlem's Finest

Hailing from 139th and Lenox in uptown New York, Big L (government name: Lamont Coleman) was one of the illest emcees to ever touch a mic. A fierce battle rapper known for dismantling all comers, he got his start with a group called Children of the Corn, serving up complex, crime-addled rhymes alongside Killa Cam, Murda Mase (prefame incarnations of fellow Harlem residents Cam'Ron and Mase), Bloodshed, and McGruff. In the early 1990s, he was discovered by pioneering NYC producer/rapper Lord Finesse, who soon became his mentor, inducting him into the Diggin' in the Crates crew, getting him on wax for the first time, and helping him to secure a record deal.

In '93, L was signed by Columbia Records, where he dropped his first solo single, "Devil's Son." The controversial song didn't exactly endear him to company execs or radio program directors, due to its over-the-top, ultraviolent imagery, but the streets were feeling it, and he stayed busy working on his first full-length. That would finally manifest two years later, with Lifestylz Ov Da Poor & Dangerous, an exceptional debut that found love from both critics and heads, and featured a cameo from then-unknown Jay-Z (still rocking his old-style superquick flow), but it failed to move big units. Like an entire generation of dope mid-nineties rappers, Big L was let go by the label.

Now without a deal, he maintained his focus and his hustle, doing mix tapes, collaborations, 12-inches, and tours with his D.I.T.C. brethren, Finesse, Showbiz & A.G., Fat Joe, O.C., and Buckwild. He also started his own record company, Flamboyant Entertainment, to be distributed through indie powerhouse Fat Beats. In 1998 he released his biggest hit, "Ebonics," a mind-bogglingly fresh concept song that cleverly dissected and defined a dictionary's worth of street terminology. Things were looking good--the hood embraced him, his music was reaching tons of heads through the Internet, and labels were hollering again, including Roc-A-Fella, headed by his old homie Jay. And then tragedy struck.

While standing on the street not far from his home, Big L was gunned down on February 15, 1999. Sprayed with seven bullets, he was killed by a group of men who were never found. Rumors suggest that it may have been due to a money beef stemming from his incarcerated brother Lee, though few people know for sure. The album he was recording was released in 2000 as The Big Picture, and it soon achieved gold status. Since then there have been numerous posthumous bootlegs and pseudo-albums in his name, to varying degrees of quality. Regardless, Big L's memory and spirit lives on through his incredible verses, a near-perfect combination of humor, ego, griminess, and swagger. Lord Finesse and DJ Premier are currently working on a final L album, using unreleased tapes found by his mother. It is set to drop later this year.

Big Pun - Super Lyrical

The first solo Latino rapper to go platinum, Big Punisher changed the sound and look of hip-hop when he hit the scene. Born and raised in the Bronx, Christopher Rios endured a rough-and-tumble childhood, dealing with a drug-addicted single mom, domestic violence in the home, and dropping out of school at 15. He found solace in music, and in 1989 (then known as Big Moon Dog), formed a group called Full A Clips Crew with Triple Seis and Cuban Link. They performed around the city and recorded demos, but never really caught a big break until a chance meeting with fellow BX rapper Fat Joe. Joe was awestruck by Pun's streetside rhyming, and promptly took him into the studio to lay a verse on his second album (by far his best), Jealous One's Envy. One thing led to another, and eventually Loud Records, then home to Wu-Tang and M.O.P., offered him a contract.

Pun's first solo release came in late 1997 with "I'm Not a Player," a gem of a song that fused an old-school R&B love jam with comical, X-rated rhymes. His lyrical style was directly influenced by Kool G Rap, extremely dense verses jam-packed with jaw-dropping prose. Eminem would soon come to prominence rocking a similar approach, but make no mistake--Pun did it better, and first.

His album Capitol Punishment dropped in 1998 and quickly went platinum on the strength of the classic club banger "Still Not a Player." The single was a gigantic hit from coast to coast, and it continues to light up dance floors to this day. The LP as a whole was outstanding from start to finish, thanks to Pun's vocal versatility and a strong supporting cast that included RZA, Noreaga, the Beatnuts, Busta Rhymes, and Terror Squad. It would go on to sell more than 2 million copies and earn a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album. Everybody in the game loved him, and he recorded an insane amount of guest appearances over the following year and a half.

Although Pun was now a bona fide superstar, his extravagant lifestyle only furthered his ongoing health issues. While his massive size was part of his image and name, it was also causing him more and more problems. When his album came out, he weighed around 450, before ballooning to 500, then 600 pounds. Worried for his life, his family, friends, and label convinced him to enroll in a program at Duke University to try to achieve a more manageable stature. It worked for a while, but Pun was homesick and soon returned to New York. On February 7, 2000, while staying at a Crown Plaza hotel in White Plains with his family, Big Pun suffered a heart attack and died. He was 28 years old.

His second LP, Yeeeah Baby, was released two months later, another solid album but not quite as essential as his debut; a hits collection titled Endangered Species dropped the following year. Though the media rarely mentions him these days, Pun remains a true rap hero, a fallen giant whose peerless rhyme skills and unlimited charisma will live on forever.