Hundreds of Lost J Dilla Tapes Returned to His Mother

The Michigan storage facility that yielded thousands of records once belonging to J Dilla also held a treasure trove of the deceased hip-hop producer’s lost material, AllHipHop.com reports.

Hundreds of original beat tapes, notebooks, letters and other items were found along with the massive vinyl collection that a record store owner discovered in an abandoned storage facility in Clinton Township. Jeff Bubeck, the owner of the record store UHF, has returned the materials to J Dilla’s mother, Maureen “Ma Dukes” Yancey.

“He is my hero. He truly is,” Yancey told AllHipHop.com of Bubeck. “It was really good to be with him and to see him and to see the type of person he was. He just broke down, because he’s a remarkable father and understood.”

Bubeck had begun selling J Dilla’s vinyl in his store, but the sale was put on hold until Yancey could verify the collection’s authenticity.

“It was overwhelming to see this handwriting again and to see how he marked his records, with his silver marker,” Yancey said. “That was his favorite color, the silver marker.”