Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm

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Power had developed a rhythm with the group’s two producers, the lead vocalist, Jonathan Davis, who performed under the name Q-Tip, and the DJ, Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Power knew what to expect from them and they shared a language to communicate musical ideas. But that dynamic changed on this album with the addition of another, outside producer. Some new kid Q-Tip found in Detroit named Jay Dee.

An ambitious, dynamic biography of J Dilla, who may be the most influential hip-hop artist known by the least number of people. . . A wide-ranging biography that fully captures the subject’s ingenuity, originality, and musical genius.” Common spent much of the spring and summer of 1999 waiting for James. He’d hop the shuttle from LaGuardia to Detroit City Airport, take a cab downtown to the Atheneum hotel, and sit tight. If James said he was coming at noon, Common often wouldn’t see him or his right-hand man Frank Bush until 3:00 p.m, or later. Some days no one would show up at all.But almost every other European “rule” about music was really a choice. The reason that the above phenomenon is known as the “octave” is that Europeans decided to devise a system making that higher tone the eighth step on a scale of seven degrees or notes. Europeans created a second tonal system, dividing this same distance into twelve smaller, equidistant steps. Again, a choice. Those choices—the seven- or twelve-note scale over even rhythms counted in multiples of either two or three—evolved over hundreds of years into a common practice that determined what Europeans would hear as musical and what they wouldn’t. But apart from a remarkable story of one musician’s genius, why does Dilla’s story matter? Because Dilla Time, as Charnas coins it, is now as dominant within music as to become a recognized time style. By the early 2000s, every artist from D’Angelo to the Roots to Brandy utilized this timing revolution, making it synonymous with pop music. The only problem? Dilla wasn’t getting any credit. As every producer started copying his style, the style’s origin blurred. Artists who worked with Dilla knew of his musical instincts and flawless control, but those who danced to it often did not. Even today he’s not credited as the game changer he is. In the Conant Gardens basement, Common sat on the couch— talking to Frank, reading rap magazines like The Source or XXL —while James stood behind his MPC3000 with his headphones on, burning incense that he bought at the counter of Melodies & Memories record store. What Common looked for was James’s head-nod. When he saw James bobbing his head, he knew something good was coming. Questlove, D’Angelo, and Poyser got giddy during James Yancey’s visits to Electric Lady Studios, and the musicians around them began to understand why. Pino Palladino had received his first lessons on Jay Dee when he joined Questlove and D’Angelo in reconstructing Slum Village songs during their jam sessions. But in person, Palladino realized Jay Dee—on keyboard or MPC—was a bass player, too. He marveled at the unique sense of space in his playing and programming, with a phrasing that was almost akin to that of reggae. The guy hears the whole band, everything. And then places his notes precisely where they need to be in relationship to everything else.

I've been reading @ethanhein since before I ever conceived "Dilla Time," so this was a treat. https://t.co/NV7V4xTkJ3 J Dilla’s influence is in every song we hear today, and yet his one-man 1990s revolution long went unappreciated: Dan Charnas aims to change that in his new book, ‘Dilla Time’. Stream: ‘Donuts’ – Dan Charnas a b c Lentini, Liza (1 February 2022). "Dan Charnas's Dilla Time: The Life And Afterlife Of J Dilla, The Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm". Spin . Retrieved 5 March 2023. In 1999, writer Dan Charnas met J Dilla and Common while the two musicians were working on Common's album Like Water for Chocolate at J Dilla's home studio in Conant Gardens, Detroit. [4] [5] Charnas cites this meeting as "the real origin of the book." [5]

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La ville du détroit is what the French called the place: “the village on the strait,” a fur-trading post beside a narrow, straight passage between two great lakes, founded in 1701 by a naval officer named Cadillac. One hundred and four years later, after the English took le Détroit from the French and the American colonists took Detroit from the English, President Thomas Jefferson sent an emissary there to serve as the Michigan Territory’s chief justice. By the time Augustus Woodward arrived, the entire town had burned to the ground after a barn fire, its six hundred inhabitants huddled beneath makeshift shelters. By the way, here’s another great Herbie sample flip by Dilla, and a more subtle usage of Herbie’s vocoded singing.) Stunning portrait of the short life and fast times of James Dewitt Yancey. . . sad, funny and unfailingly humane, it’s not only one of the best books this writer has ever read about hip-hop but also sets a new gold standard for writing about music full stop."— Ben Johnson, Mojo Magazine The book’s heart is its rich, evocative musicological analysis, complete with rhythm diagrams, of Dilla’s beats. . . Charnas’s engrossing work is one of the few hip-hop sagas to take the music as seriously as its maker.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Pitchfork called Dilla Time "easily the best rap book of the year," describing the book as "not only a love letter to Dilla, but also a riveting immersion into the music of Detroit and the art of beatmaking." [10] Rolling Stone listed the book as one of the best music books of 2022, describing it as "elegantly written and deeply sourced." [11] Writing for Spin, Liza Lentini praised the book, calling it "a portrait of a complex genius taken too young, as well as a glorious study of the music and culture he created." [7] Madrigal, Alexis (4 February 2022). "The Genius of Hip-Hop Producer J Dilla Shines in New Book 'Dilla Time' by Dan Charna". KQED . Retrieved 5 March 2023. Roberts, Randall (25 February 2022). "Studio fights, ghost stories and more revelations in bestselling new bio on producer J Dilla". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 5 March 2023.Power wanted to say something, but he knew he couldn’t. Q-Tip and the guys in the crew seemed to be keen on Jay Dee, and Power was always wary of overstepping his bounds. So he held his tongue. All in all, this book was an education on the evolution of Hip-Hop after J Dilla got his hands on it. It was a walk through Detroit and other spaces and places. It was an exploration of the international landscapes that he touched from the UK & Australia to Hip-Hop loving markets in Japan, etc. I loved Chapter 15: Descendants and Disciples, my fave chapter - it was sooo good! There were layers and layers of information about adjacent artists and musicians and Dilla's influence on their style and what-begat-what-begat-what... each layer was delicious, so interesting, mindbending, fun, and unique. I gotta go look for the playlist someone's made on this book on Spotify, it's bound to be dope. Questlove and D’Angelo were rebels against rigidity, their bond beginning on April Fools’ Day in 1996 at the House of Blues in Los Angeles: Questlove onstage with the Roots, and D’Angelo in the balcony. They’d never met, but Questlove was a fan. While the drummer had been disciplining his playing into a metronomic, machinelike pulse, D’Angelo was relaxing his rhythms; songs like “Dreamin’ Eyes of Mine” evoked the same feeling Questlove got when he listened to Jay Dee’s beats. So the drummer sent the singer a smoke signal, launching into the drum riff of an obscure song called “Four”—penned and recorded by Prince under his jazz alias, Madhouse—elongating time, hitting the skins with a contained sloppiness. D’Angelo caught the beat, bobbing his head wildly. Their introduction after the show led to D’Angelo’s first collaboration with the Roots, and to a friendship. As the two bandmates’ chests heaved from exertion and fury, their hair and clothing ruffled, James tried to defuse the situation.