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

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In that regard, I found Dilla Time to be nothing short of a holy scroll, a bold, brilliant testimony, a clinic in dot-connecting, musical-mapping, and hip-hop nerd sh*t. The story woven within is a profound portrait of a confounding pioneer, a thorough education, rumination, and stimulation, a game-changing historical document and love letter to a lost prophet.

This book is a must for everyone interested in illuminating the idea of unexplainable genius.” —QUESTLOVE There's this feeling you get when you read something by someone who really cares, like realllllllllly cares about what they're sharing. In Dilla Time, Dan Charnas chronicles the life of James DeWitt Yancey, from his gifted Detroit childhood to his rise as a sought-after hip-hop producer to the rare blood disease that caused his premature death. He follows the people who kept Dilla and his ideas alive. And he rewinds the histories of American rhythms: from the birth of Motown soul to funk, techno, and disco. Here, music is a story of what happens when human and machine times are synthesized into something new. 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.” I also strongly suspect I am the only person to ever work Dilla into a major work of published fantasy—perhaps a dubious tribute, perhaps, but that's neither here nor there.But even when trying and failing to cast aside my nostalgic biases, this is a pretty dope book. What Dan Charnas has penned here is at once a beautiful celebration of the music of J Dilla, approaching it with the scholarly vigor, technical analysis, and musical history it so sorely deserves. The book consistently stunned me with the extent of theory and musicology it delved into, thoroughly describing the methodology behind a traditionally crafted pop song compared against J Dilla's offkilter productions. There are charts inviting readers to beat their knees in time, and then again in 'Dilla time', making for a uniquely engaging reading experience. I found the alternating spotlight on traditional craft versus J Dilla's rule-breaking ways incredibly compelling, and I don't think it's any exaggeration to posit that J Dilla himself would have loved seeing his art presented in this way. Jeff Peretz's contributions deserve a great deal of recognition for imbuing the work with a structure worthy of Dilla's genius, especially because things get noticeably sloppy once that structure falls away. Reeves, Mosi (23 December 2022). "The Best Music Books of 2022". Rolling Stone . Retrieved 5 March 2023.

The persistent negativity and conflict in the wake of his death are almost a bit too much to bear, but now fans—and even his friends—are able to better grasp the fissures and disconnects that have occasionally drowned out the air-horns and accolades that deserve to rain down on Dilla unabated. With the subtitle The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm, the book makes a bold claim, and the stakes are indeed high. The basic premise is partly an artist biography in the traditional sense, a comprehensive dive into J Dilla from family, friends, collaborators, imitators, and champions of his genius, not to mention the raw details regarding the debilitating illness that slowly, savagely took his life. I've been reading @ethanhein since before I ever conceived "Dilla Time," so this was a treat. https://t.co/NV7V4xTkJ3 The first chapters of the book oscillate between biographic and musicological chapters. In the beginning, Charnas jumps us straight into a chance sonic encounter between Dilla and Questlove in North Carolina circa 1994. The short vignette revealed that Questlove felt the drum production was “wrong” on the Dilla-produced Pharcyde cut “Bullshit.” Like many other musicians and music listeners, Questlove would come to learn that one’s perception of wrong is informed by personal experience, space/place, and one’s own foundational understanding of music. Moreover, Dilla’s rhythmic choices were far from being haphazardly thrown together. Both are guiding principles throughout Dilla Time. And, both facts from Charnas lead readers to Dilla’s musical and physical birthplace: Detroit. As an associate professor at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University, Charnas taught a course called "Topics in Recorded Music: J Dilla" that discussed J Dilla's musical techniques and influence. [5] [6] He began work researching and reporting for the book in 2017. [7] Charnas interviewed over 200 friends, family members, and collaborators of J Dilla throughout the research process. [5]

Dilla Time

Why do you consider it “racist” to prioritize harmony over rhythm? Harmony has more inherent complexity to it, and it really is more cerebral and less visceral. It has nothing to do with race, in my opinion. Rhythm is more for dancing to than thinking about on an intellectual level, and rhythm doesn’t express emotion the way harmony does. It’s not a coincidence that when an a musician, even a modern pop musician, wants to write a song that is more emotional/sad, they ease up on the percussion and focus more on harmony and melody. By the way, here’s another great Herbie sample flip by Dilla, and a more subtle usage of Herbie’s vocoded singing.)

Charnas’s book isn’t only, or even chiefly, about the complexities of the man, though it makes room for them. It is mostly about the complexities of his music’– Francis Gooding, London Review of Books I listened to the audio book, narrated by author Dan Chanas in a way that flowed well with the book's content. When I learned that the written book includes diagrams I got a copy of that also, but I found that Chanas has done such a good job talking about "time" in music that the diagrams were unnecessary for my understanding! This is one of the book's biggest strengths - explaining in a clear and persuasive way what was unique about J Dilla's beat - and how it relates to musical styles that came before, how it influenced hip hop and a lot of popular music, how Dilla created it, how it evolved, etc. Musical TIME is a main character of this book just as much as Dilla is (as the title, Dilla Time, suggests). This is a huge strength of the book, and it's why it works as a fairly long biography of someone with a short life.The greatest hip-hop producer of all time is getting the love and care his legacy deserves. Dilla Time is a master class.” In diving into Dilla’s kaleidoscopic, voluminous catalog of releases, beat tapes, bootlegs, overseas rarities and the like, Charnas does not let anything get by him – with regards to the music James made, who he made it with, and precisely how it was executed. He tunnels from the inspiration to the samples, the equipment to the cannabis, and oscillates even further into the Church of Dilla and its mythical abyss. With this fourth act, Charnas begins with focusing on how computers (DAWs) were changing the way and the rate at which music was made. Moreover, we are guided through how the creation of okayplayer.com became a connector for fans of not only The Roots, but Dilla’s fans as well. The formation of Foreign Exchange and Little Brother is a main point here. In the second part, readers are shown how a rare blood disease diagnosis shook Dilla’s world and everyone around him. He would be supported most (as always) by his mother. The world still turned, as his music friends had to continue working with or without him. Charnas debunks some myths around Dilla’s creative process during the last years of his life. He ends with a heart-wrenching account of Dilla’s passing. Charnas, Dan (2022). Dilla time: the life and afterlife of J Dilla, the hip-hop producer who reinvented rhythm. New York: MCD, Farrar, Straus and Giroux . Retrieved 7 September 2023.

Even in death, his own legacy, estate, and posthumous releases have been shrouded in conflict between collaborators, heirs, and lawyers, in addition to elitist attitudes, relationship disintegration, and a proliferation of misinformation. It seems it was high time and long overdue for somebody to step up and finally set the J Dilla record straight, for both the heads and the annals of history. But who would dare accept such a bold mission?

I love J Dilla's music like I love the broken part of myself that strives to be better each day. At times, I felt this book holding the music in the reverence it has always needed, but in others, I think it detracted from its own messaging by focusing on things auxiliary to the man himself. Charnas was wise to not shy away from the shortcomings of Dilla and his circle, but some of the more incessantly targeted chapters, along with the overwrought exhibitions of Dilla's musical followers, pervert what makes him worth writing about in the first place: the music. By no means is Dilla Time an easy read. There are nightmarish tales of his rugged bout with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and lupus, detailing excruciating hospital experiences, a possible misdiagnosis, and Dilla’s own fears foreshadowing his eventual demise. After his death, the author confronts some painful realities with regard to the estate, leftover tax debt, and in-fighting between the heirs, some folks talking out of turn, plus lawyers, lengthy lawsuits, lost albums, and all the bullsh*t that has dogged Dilla’s legacy since he passed away in February 2006. The greatest hip-hop producer of all time is getting the love and care his legacy deserves. Dilla Time is a master class’ – Dream Hampton His foundational understandings of music were also a notable theme through these chapters. In addition, Charnas details a deep history on the incorporation of machines into music. From metronomic machines to synthesizers to beat machines, each evolution in machine was complimented by a new musical development: Techno in Detroit forming alongside House (Chicago) and Electro (NYC).