WADDUP DOE? City Of Detroit Honors Hip-Hop Legend J Dilla With Street Naming And His Own Day

The street signe is at the corner of Nevada and Charest Streets, near the producer's childhood home.

Producer legend J Dilla has been honored two decades after his death. City officials have put up a street sign in Detroit named after him and declared Feb. 7 J Dilla Day.

The street sign was unveiled in Detroit on Thursday, Feb. 6, and the event finally came to reality after the dedication was first announced to be underway in October 2024. The Detroit City Council voted and agreed to honor five Motor City heroes, including James Dewitt “J Dilla” Yancey, Vincent Chin, Earl Cureton, Horace Sheffield Jr., and Joseph Anthony “Amp” Fiddler.

J Dilla’s street sign is on the east side of Detroit, near his childhood home, at the corner of Nevada and Charest Streets.

As reported by FOX 2, J Dilla’s daughters played a huge role in bringing the dedication to fruition. Ja’Mya Yancey and Ty-Monae Whitlow attended the East Detroit unveiling event.

The girls spoke on their father’s legacy at the dedication.

Yancey began, “This is long overdue for my father. He left it up to us, his family, to continue to make sure that his genius was not left behind or forgotten … And that’s exactly what we are doing, have been doing, and will continue to do.”

Yancey and Whitlow continued to recall how they worked to get a street named after Dilla, explaining that they went through the East Detroit neighborhood and collected signatures for the required city council petition.

Yancey shared, “We were out here, on foot, getting signatures from people. It was so good to see that people were like, ‘Oh yeah! I know exactly who you’re talking about. We’ll support it!’ He put his stamp on the map, everyone knows his stamp’s on the map, and now it’s official. It’s on the street!”

J Dilla died at just 32 years old on Feb. 10, 2006, in his Los Angeles home of lupus.