Ma Dukes, A Love Supreme
Posted on 04/17/2009
In anticipation of the new J Dilla record, Jay Stay Paid, out June 2nd on Nature Sounds, Okayplayer got the chance to chop it up with none other than Mrs. Yancey, aka “Ma Dukes.” Despite her recent diagnosis with Lupus, a disease that contributed to her son’s untimely departure, and ongoing estate woes (which OKP was legally advised not to broach), Ma Dukes maintains a light so very bright and sprawling as the Aurora Borealis. She’s a rare paragon of positivity, an example of motherhood done right and proof that it isn’t necessarily who or what you lose, but what you do after. The average human could have easily buckled under her circumstances, but not Ma Dukes. To her, it’s all about the love; it’s all about the music and the message. In essence, Maureen Yancey is the Dalai Lama of rap moms. And this is what makes her proud.
OKP: When Dilla first got into hip-hop, how did it strike you as a parent? Did you ever wonder, “why is that bass so damn loud?”
MD: laughs No no, never. Before Dilla was even one year old, he would stand up in his crib when he heard James Brown. That bass would get him up off the floor of the playpen and he would prop himself up with one hand and dance. He would dance until the very last beat but we would laugh because when the song ended, he would realize he couldn’t stand and walk and he would get this panicked look on his face like, “Now what?!” But even with that he couldn’t resist it. We knew the bass was a special thing to him. We just got used to it over the years. You know, when guys like ?uestlove and Common would come into town, we all shared the same home. They would work and we knew we wouldn’t be sleeping! Our heads would be bobbing along under the pillows! Hip-Hop is just another type of music and aside from my husband not liking the Opera; we love all kinds of music.
OKP: You and your husband are both classically trained musicians, right?
MD: My husband’s a jazz musician; he played upright bass and sang around the country for 25 years or so. They did shows like halftime for The Globetrotters and put out some records on Brunswick but he never parted with his job at the Ford Motor Company; that was always a mainstay! I had an aunt who taught music in schools, so my upbringing was more opera and classical.
OKP: How old was Dilla when he started experimenting with music?
MD: At two and a half we knew that was it, he was a record collector and a little DJ. His father and I took it for granted then, but his love of music made it easier on us.
OKP: Well, from a Dilla fan, thank you for being so supportive.
MD: You’re welcome! Music just meant everything to us; it’s what we love. In fact it’s how I met my husband. I auditioned for him.
OKP: To be a vocalist in his band?
MD: No, more as a solo artist. My parents had an idea that I could record as a solo artist so I auditioned with Mr. Yancey one time when he was on a break from his band. But I was content with my day job! I wasn’t looking for any singing job! After my audition, he took me to a club downtown called “The Hideaway.” He played the piano and I sang a bunch of standards. The owner wanted me to come back the next Monday and Mr. Yancey was a fast talker back then, he was in the business, so before I knew it, they had me coming back in a week to start performing! I still wasn’t looking for a job, but I was interested in him! I had to let him down easy with the singing though; I wasn’t ready for that lifestyle.
OKP: So you made away with a husband, not a record contract?
MD: Oh yes… I had my eye on him! But music is literally the cornerstone of our family.
OKP: So I’m guessing your sons’ “Yancey Boys” collaboration was a source of great pride for you?
MD: Yes, I’m very proud and I’m glad that Illa J (Dilla’s little brother) is bringing forth his own talent. All the Yanceys are gifted but they all have their own special talents. Illa was worried because we are a very critical family, of each other and of every thing! My daughter is super bad when it comes to being critical of things. She doesn’t listen to hip-hop, she doesn’t really like it; she’s an Alanis Morissette type. She’s the one that introduced John to a lot of different music. Now his favorite group is The White Stripes. But we just embrace music from everywhere; there is no certain format. There are no lines to be drawn. John will bring forth what he has to offer and his new things will be great.
OKP: When your sons were younger, was James a mentor to John?
MD: Well John was the kid brother, so everybody slammed doors in John’s face! Dilla would let him come down for a little while if he was working, but at a certain point no one was allowed to go down with Dilla, that’s how we knew he was working on something special. But John always had a penchant for writing. He was the only kid at the time; his siblings were teenagers and young adults. He adored them, but it didn’t stop the doors from slamming in his face! So he wrote a lot and he would sing. He would take his stuffed animals on the front porch and just sing to them as the traffic on Nevada passed by. He was in the church choir by age 5 and definitely held his own even though he was the smallest one.
OKP: In keeping with the family vibe, I understand you’re executive producing the new Dilla album?
MD: Yes and I intend to do that with everything that comes forth from this point on.
OKP: Can you tell us about the record?
MD: I can’t let any secrets out but what I can tell you is that it’s so spiritually fulfilling for me because I know what Pete (Rock) meant to Dilla. And Pete is very present in everything that goes on. Our house looks like a museum to Pete with all the posters! I talk with him daily and I know how honored and special Dilla’s spirit must feel knowing Pete is doing this. He adored Pete to no end; there was no one greater than Pete. He wanted to grow up to be Pete.
OKP: What was Pete’s main contribution to the project?
MD: Pete finished the parts that Dilla left undone, which only Pete could do. And I don’t think you could get it any closer to if Dilla had done it with his own hands.
OKP: With guys like Dilla and Pete Rock representing modern music; how do you feel the culture now compares to when you were coming up?
MD: The fusion of music is what I’m interested in now. The artists that fuse things like old soul and pop and rap, and the artists that are really bringing something new to the table; this is what intrigues me. It opens new ears to music and more people can find things in the music now. If you can find things in the music that appeal to you, you’re more in tune to what’s going on. If you don’t sit down long enough, you might miss the whole message. And we don’t do enough listening, even the older adults, we don’t. There’s so much good hip-hop and there are so many good messages, you just need to take the time to listen. And you can’t expect everything to remain the same. It’s the same story all through time. I mean, whose parents didn’t think it was a bunch of hogwash when they heard what kids were listening to! It happens every generation and I’ve watched it through a couple now. You have to not resist the love of the music. Sometimes I think we’re afraid to like things. But today, with all different music being fused, people shouldn’t be so afraid to like new things. Like me, myself, I love hip-hop.
OKP: Since Dilla’s passing, have you felt an outreach from the hip-hop community?
MD: Yes I have. It’s been a rough three years and there have been times I’ve had to call on the guys. I’ve always been able to call Common; it only takes one phone call. I know it would bother him if I needed something and didn’t reach out so with him it’s usually about a half hour and he calls me back. There’s never any question from him besides, “What can I do to help?” Even when we had the event at Cal. State on 2/22 (A live performance of the Suite for Ma Dukes EP), Common hadn’t gotten the message about the show. Illa J and I went to his concert the night before. I just wanted to lay low and leave him alone but we went back stage and saw him. He asked what was going on the next day and I could tell by the look on his face that he hadn’t gotten the message from his people. I lived with him a couple years so I know. He asked me to text him the info but I knew how busy he was with The Oscars and other obligations and I didn’t want to bother him. I knew he would be there with me in spirit. So the next day I went to the performance and I hadn’t been there a half hour when someone ran up to me and said, “Rash is here.” So that’s what I’m talking about. I’ve reached out to ?uestlove and Black Thought too. With Black Thought it’s a response within 60 seconds. Everyone has been wonderful. It’s like I’ve been given a host of sons. I feel loved and on Mother’s Day I get calls from midnight all throughout the day.
OKP: I think we’re all glad you’re getting that kind of support.
MD: It makes me feel so good to feel all the love for Dilla. My family is still very much in mourning. It takes different amounts of time for different people. My husband is a quiet soft-spoken person so he deals with it in his own way. My daughter was extremely close to Dilla and she may never be ready…
OKP: How close were you to James?
MD: Extremely close. Dilla and I talked through everything together, whether it was relationships or baby-mamas or whatever. We knew there was hardly anything we couldn’t get through together. It doesn’t get any stronger than a mother and her child. You never have to worry because you know you have somebody there 100%, always.
OKP: We fans have all heard the stories of Dilla performing onstage from a wheelchair and making beats in his hospital bed until his last days. How surreal of an experience was all this for you as a parent?
MD: You know what, it enriched my life. Now that I’m suffering from some of the same things, it gives special meaning to my suffering. It’s bittersweet because it’s bringing me closer to what he dealt with and it’s bringing me closer to what we shared. Because of that I’m able to deal with my own illness better.
OKP: How is your health now?
MD: I’m here so I’m grateful. I’m on steroids so I’m feeling good all the time! I’m Ma Dukes on steroids! laughs
But there was a beauty in Dilla’s passing because I realized he didn’t have to suffer anymore. I knew all the suffering because I was like his 24-hour nurse. Most people would have been in ICU just to get the care he needed on a daily basis on his tour but I was able to make it bearable enough for him to make it through. We stayed in the room all day and we just tried to keep him strong enough for the performance. But I was so blessed to have been there, nothing in this world could ever be as important to me.
OKP: Did you have any medical training?
MD: You never know what your lot in life will be. I worked for the IRS! But luckily I had some nursing training as a young adult. I also learned from the staff at Cedars-Sinai. Dilla had about 15 doctors and they had to teach me to care for him because he wouldn’t let anyone else touch him. He was very peculiar! laughs He was a funny guy but also very serious. In fact, he was serious most of the time.
OKP: Funny, his reputation around music and his music itself are both so upbeat and soulful, I wouldn’t assume he was such a serious dude.
MD: He was! I mean to a fault. My husband and I never forced our opinions on our children; they were to think as they wanted to think. We would raise them but if they thought differently we certainly wanted them to express that. Dilla was adamant about everything. Even if I started fussing, he wouldn’t back down. He wasn’t rash but if he made a decision he stuck to it and he wasn’t afraid of making wrong decisions.
OKP: Probably one of the reasons he made such great music.
MD: Oh yes.
OKP: It’s easy to speculate on Dilla’s legacy within music but in what other ways do you hope his legend will impact people?
MD: The J-Dilla foundation is to help fund Lupus research but that’s just one area. We want to promote arts for the children seeing that music and other programs have been taken out of a lot of the schools. We don’t have rec centers and we don’t have enough people because we can’t pay them. We want to start something like Amp Fiddler did here in Detroit. He never made a dime but he got it done by being so unselfish. He’s an unsung hero and he hasn’t stopped. This is something I’m looking forward to doing.
OKP: Any final words of wisdom for our readers?
MD: I just want them to know that Jay Stay Paid is a piece of Dilla’s heart. It would be so divine and so special for Dilla to know that Pete worked on it. When I met Pete I told him how Dilla worshipped the ground he walked on and I think it threw him for a loop because in this business you hear a lot of people just rubbing their gums together! But he told me how big a fan he was of Dilla’s and how special this was. So I just want everyone to know that they’re not just getting a piece of Dilla’s music, they’re getting a piece of his heart… You know, I’m just excited about music in general right now and what we all have stored up in our soul, the things we’re afraid to release and share with other people. We’ve all got gifts to share with the world, and not just music, we just need to learn to share and to not be afraid.
OKP: In the future, please let us know what we can do to help.
MD: Well ok, you’ll be hearing from me, it’s about to get real busy! The sun is out, everything’s turning around; I’m feeling great about everything! Like I said, Ma Dukes on steroids is gonna be wild!
- Jeff Artist
**Top illustration by Donald Ely. To see more of his work, visit Donald Ely's website.
In addition to copping Dilla's Jay Stay Paid, (proceeds go to Ma Dukes and the Estate of James Yancey) which is set to drop June 2nd on Nature Sounds, you can also help out Ma Dukes by checking out Suite For Ma Dukes on Stones Throw. Stones Throw also has a t-shirt with all of the proceeds going to Ma Dukes.
No comments:
Post a Comment