| 7 February |
J Dilla: Story Behind The Beats |
The story behind some of J Dilla’s greatest productions. Interviews with Common, Kweli, Ma Dukes, Badu, Phat Kat and others by Egon, Eric Ducker and Edwin Houghton, originally published by Fader, 2006.
Think twice, youngbloods, precocious hoodrats, beatbox prodigies. Somewhere in the fine print of the job description for “Revolutionary Black Genius” is a clause that reads, “Must die young.” Producer and rapper J Dilla departure from terra firma earlier this year at the age of 32 is proof that there’s no escaping the curse, and his killer-Lupus-related blood disease-is enough to make you believe in conspiracy theories of cosmic proportions. If you make music, it’s almost enough to make you want to give it up altogether, except Dilla was so damn good at what he did, he probably made you want to give up even when he was still living. The discography of J Dilla (born James Yancey) is brief in time, but prolific in output and wide in scope. Since he passed, there’s been a flood of testimonials to his brilliance and his untouchable status as your favorite producers favorite producer, but if those eulogies have enshrined Dilla as a minor deity to beat makers and 12-inch connoisseurs, then no doubt he’s the type of god who is properly worshipped with drums, not hymns of praise. So take these firsthand accounts from the various divas, rappers, soul cats and family members whose collective minds he blew when making music not as props for props sake, but as story problems for your MPC, object lessons in how to do it right …. And get back to work.
Hit the jump for the records.
Via: Stones Throw
