The name of one of J Dilla’s 2006 albums was Donuts. Now, one of the late Detroit producer’s uncles is naming a coffee and doughnut shop after him, according to detroitnews.com.
Scheduled to open in either October or November, Dilla Delights will be an 800-square-foot shop in the Harmonie Park area of downtown Detroit. The business owned by Dilla’s uncle Herman Hayes is located on the ground floor of the Ashley, the former Milner Hotel, where Dilla lived briefly as a toddler, as per detroitnews.com.
“He was on his deathbed making Donuts, and I felt like that was partly a tribute to me,” says Hayes, 58, a former baker who is known to Dilla fans as “Uncle Herm” and who says he is the one of the reasons Dilla developed an affinity for the pastries. “I felt I should honor that and respect that and give back to him. I want to honor my nephew in the right way, and this is a good way to do it. Not by putting out another album, but putting a sustainable business with his name on it that I plan on being in Detroit long after I’m gone. It’s just what I can give back to him for giving us that music.”
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The menu at Dilla’s Delights is slated to include coffee, tea and juices, as well as doughnuts made with all organic ingredients and whose names pay homage to Dilla’s life and music. For instance, Fantastic Fritters are a nod to the Fantastic albums Slum Village, of which Dilla was a member, released; the Conant Gardens Glaze pays homage to the neighborhood where Dilla grew up; and the McNasty Macaroons were inspired by “McNasty Filth,” a track Dilla did with Madlib as part of the Jaylib Champion Sound album in 2003.
Dilla died in 2006 from complications from Lupus, as per detroitnews.com.. He was 32.
Beyond his work with Slum Village and as a solo artist, Dilla produced for The Pharcyde, A Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes and Common, among others.
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