Various media reports are talking about the new Dan Charmas-penned book, Dilla Time.

One interesting Prince-related(adjacent) note:

The clap in the original Linn drum machine, that Prince used extensively in the 80s, was a recording of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers clapping backstage as a favor to Linn who was struggling with getting a good clap sound.

Dilla died in 2003 from a rare blood disease.

Equal parts biography, musicology, and cultural history, Dilla Time chronicles the life and legacy of J Dilla, a musical genius who transformed the sound of popular music for the twenty-first century by pioneering a new musical time-feel, an accomplishment on par with the achievements of Louis Armstrong and James Brown. Dilla, with only his drum machine, transformed the way traditional musicians play.

AVAILABLE IN PAPERBACK, HARDCOVER, AUDIO & EBOOK.

Says the Hardback is already out. This seems great. The emphasis on what he did for loosening the rigid timing of drum machines is a great hook. He absolutely changed the trajectory of beats/drum machine-based production once he hit the scene.

GOAT Hip-Hop producer. Donuts is a great entry, but don't stop at just that and the Jaylib record. His best stuff was his productions for other rappers.

Something futuristic hype-electro like Busta Rhymes "Make It Hurt" or laid-back watery beats like Que D's "Rock Box".

My fav. Dilla beat might indeed be "The Jam" by Mad Skillz. Instrumental.

And anything he did with Phat Kat was fiyah. "Dedication the Suckers", "Dedication 2004", "Cold Steel", etc.

[Edited 1/25/23 21:51pm]

[Edited 1/25/23 21:51pm]

Wasn't there a whole thing about Janet's "Got 'Til It's Gone" and Dilla? That he came up with that beat or something and wasn't credited for it?

WhisperingDandelions said:

LoveGalore said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Wasn't there a whole thing about Janet's "Got 'Til It's Gone" and Dilla? That he came up with that beat or something and wasn't credited for it?

Yeah, there was an old clip where he recounted the whole night him with The Ummah and Janet made it, then talked about when it came out there was another name on the credits.

It was also why he titled his remix "Ummah Jay Dee's Revenge Mix".

Remix is better, too. Joni Mitchell never lies. Revenge Mix

[Edited 1/27/23 5:33am]

My fav. Dilla story in maybe the Prince opening for the Rolling Stones show school of "everybody's not going to always be ready for something new" is one of the members of The Pharcyde freaking out at the loose percussion in Dilla's original version of "Runnin" to the extent where he like sat behind Dilla at his sampler and made him fix every loose kick drum and off-timed snare and get them closer to more early 90s generic timing . There was this interview with The Pharcyde eventually where they set the record straight and said it was one member who really hated the off-timing... the others seemed kinda embarassed about it taking place.

Dilla always had some animosity toward discussing or working with members of The Pharcyde after that, despite being probably his first major act that used his production. That was his whole artistic thing, clearly must have been friggin' belittling to go through so early in his career.

Anyway there was a CD Single of "Runnin" that had looser drum patterns on one of the extra tracks vs. the album/radio version.

[Edited 1/27/23 5:57am]

RJOrion said:

WhisperingDandelions said:

TrivialPursuit said:

Wasn't there a whole thing about Janet's "Got 'Til It's Gone" and Dilla? That he came up with that beat or something and wasn't credited for it?

Yeah, there was an old clip where he recounted the whole night him with The Ummah and Janet made it, then talked about when it came out there was another name on the credits.

It was also why he titled his remix "Ummah Jay Dee's Revenge Mix".

Remix is better, too. Joni Mitchell never lies. Revenge Mix

Someone posted a pic from the book. There's a section on "Got 'Til It's Gone." Being a huge Janet fan, I'm quite interested to hear the whole of that story with fresh eyes.
And I do think I remember that remix you posted. It wasn't too long ago that Dilla came up in this whole discussion, so I think someone probably pointed us (me) to it.

When that song came out, I was living in Minneapolis. I just remember the drums being so piercing and loud, Janet's voice so low and moody - it sorta irritated me. I liked the chords and synths, but I felt the drums were too loud. It was sort of a funky patchwork of sounds, samples, and melody. Ultimately, I grew to greatly appreciate the song and that monumental watershed album. The likes of which are only rivaled by Unbreakable.

RJOrion said:

Dilla's best work by far was when he was part of rap crew Slum Village...his beats and his criminally underrated rap skills are on full display on the album Slum Village - "Fantastic Vol 2" He also produced beats for hit records by Busta Rhymes, QTip, Frank N Dank, Common, The Pharcyde, A Tribe Called Qwest, The Roots, DeLaSoul, Eryka Badu, etc...and thats just off the top of my head.. One of the most talented (if not THE most talented) men in hiphop history...gone too soon.

J Dilla formerly known as Jay Dee was very underrated as well as Slum Village.

Great rap group before disagreements and tragedy broke them down.

I dug a lot of his work with the artists you named

Slum Village was kind of better when eLZhi joined the group, honestly. Like as a full-fledged rap group. Dilla had more cutting-edge beats, but their early rapping is kinda patchy... Interesting, however, as Detroit hip-hop always is, my fav.rap region, Them Dilla clones Black Milk/Young RJ weren't bad producers either.

LoveGalore said:

RJOrion said:

Or for any music fan, period...Donuts was playing in the car when we were driving home from the hospital after my youngest son was born...that lp is the soundtrack to his very first car ride and very first taste and smell of outside air...everytime i hear "Two Can Win", i get emotional and have flashbacks of that day

Donuts is hard for me to listen to. About ten years ago, I used to have the entire album just smack dab in the middle of this playlist I would listen to when I was traveling just cuz it would remind me of home when I was far away. Then I started traveling with an ex, still playing the playlist, and it totally poisoned the well after we broke up. Now every time I listen, I gotta push past all that. I can't always do it but sometimes you just have to. It's so good. It's a testament to the man's incredible mind. Everything he did just cut right through to your insides.

Yeah my ex had "Time: The Donut of the Heart" as her ringer-thing for years.

This is why you gotta scour his the deepest recesses of his catalogue to get as far away from Donuts as emotionally palpable, but still full-on Dilla bounce.

And if you want to still bask in the Donuts style without the specific triggers there's always Donuts-adjacent material like the Smokey Robinson-sampled beat he gave to eLZhi for "Love It Here".

[Edited 2/12/23 0:43am]

WhisperingDandelions said:

RJOrion said:

Word...you right about Black Milk and YoungRJ ...and Black Milk is nice with the beats and on the mic...elzhi been underrated forever...never understood why he didnt become a star...at times he sounded like a midwest Nas...i did prefer him in the crew over Baatin, but they missed Dilla on the mic, when Dilla got sick and stopped rapping on their joints

Dilla had the sickest flow. The rhymes themselves were kinda hit or miss, but he'd do cool stuff with the rhythm or like how on "McNasty Filth" he rides them hi-hats. Definitely an underrated emcee.

Nas is a good comparison for eLZhi, usually hardcore Nasheads really appreciate eLZhi.

WhisperingDandelions said:

Dilla went way beyond Hop Hip. Stuff is the stuff of dreams.

RJOrion said:

Youre so right about Dilla's flow...its on full display on "Ruff Draft" ... probably his most overlooked/underrated album..

co-sign. It's my favorite solo release of his, honestly.

"Reckless Driving" is beyond beats, beyond rap. Takes you into the next dimension.

My favorite era for his style, too, he was incorporating more synth and moog-type stuff, said he was influenced by Timbaland/Neptunes at the time and trying to take it to the next level with his own unique twist. The shocking thing is a lot of it is still samples, some of it sounds for sure replayed but he was always amazing at sampling so good it sounded live.... Like my very first Dilla was Like Water for Chocolate, and I went the rest of my teenage years believing it was all replayed with live instruments by The Roots, same with Q-Tip's Amplified which my step dad played a lot of tracks from back in the day. It all seemed like live interpolations like Dr. Dre does.

[Edited 2/15/23 11:52am]

WhisperingDandelions said:

RJOrion said:

WhisperingDandelions said:

co-sign. It's my favorite solo release of his, honestly.

"Reckless Driving" is beyond beats, beyond rap. Takes you into the next dimension.

My favorite era for his style, too, he was incorporating more synth and moog-type stuff, said he was influenced by Timbaland/Neptunes at the time and trying to take it to the next level with his own unique twist. The shocking thing is a lot of it is still samples, some of it sounds for sure replayed but he was always amazing at sampling so good it sounded live.... Like my very first Dilla was Like Water for Chocolate, and I went the rest of my teenage years believing it was all replayed with live instruments by The Roots, same with Q-Tip's Amplified which my step dad played a lot of tracks from back in the day. It all seemed like live interpolations like Dr. Dre does.

[Edited 2/15/23 11:52am]

Damn...Ruff Draft is my favorite too...i love that he put all the instrumental versions on the discs also...yo, its like we're musical soulmates or something...because ive argued for years in defense of the greatness of "Like Water For Chocolate"...from the Fela Kuti inspired intro ("Time Travelin'"), to the outro, ("Pops Rap"), that album is perfection...probabaly Commons two biggest singles come from that lp ("The Light", "6th Sense")...even the sequencing is perfect...every song is placed right where they should be...in perfect order... "Thelonius" will ALWAYS be my shit...Dilla's flow tap danced on that joint...IMO he actually outshined Common on that.

Both Like Water for Chocolate and Electric Circus are so integral to different sides of the Dilla and Common story I gotta highlight both.

And for each my favorite track is probably an outtake from the sessions for both. The S.V. / DJ Jazzy Jeff collab "Are You Ready?" which sadly has no official instrumental... It's like a harder "Nag Champa", total Like Water for Chocolate vibes. Then there's his majestic remix of "Come Close" "Closer Remix" instrumental

[Edited 2/17/23 12:53pm]

[Edited 2/17/23 12:54pm]