indie moms strike back!

(photo by marymactavish)

Today we’re happy to announce the return of a feature we started last year — “Indie Moms Sound Off!” This year, the mothers of members of the National, Okkervil River, Cut Copy, Bosque Brown, the Danielson Famile and many, many more tell us which of their kids’ songs they like the best and why. The stories, as you might expect, are as funny as they are heartwarming.

But before you get to that: we were privileged enough to get an interview with Maureen Yancey, mother of the late, legendary hip-hop producer J. Dilla, who talked to us at length about her son’s legacy. The piece is unbelievably moving — I defy you to get through it without tearing up — a sweet and loving remembrance of one of hip-hop’s finest. A bit of a sneak preview:

As soon as he was able to support himself upright, it was time to go record shopping. Of course, at Amoeba (Records) — he would get out of the hospital, and that was something you know we had coming up. And I’d be so worried. Because he would be on a walker — the three-pronged walker — and the walker is at the end of one aisle, and I’m looking for something for him in another aisle, and when I come back, I see the walker and I don’t see him. And I’m freaking out, cause he’s already scooted his way down to another aisle. He was so engrossed in what he was doing, he had left the walker.

You can read that interview here.