J Dilla Some bits about Dilla Producerbeatsmith and

J Dilla

Some bits about Dilla Producer/beatsmith and MC From Detroit; member of Slum Village Got access to the MPC from Amp Fiddler; notably self-taught Q-Tip heard his programming and got him into the industry Member of the production collectives The Ummah and Soulquarians Known for an ever-changing style and remixes Passed away in 2006 from Lupus

Notable Productions The Pharcyde Labcabincalifornia ATCQ Beats, Rhymes and Life and Love Movement Common Like Water For Chocolate Jaylib Champion Sound

Dilla's Aesthetic/Technique Took and advanced Pete Rock's chop Was digging for weird medlodic samples from all genres Avoided using quantizing so his drums had incredible swing and human feel; in general, loose programming Had several signature snares/drums Known for low end texture with drums/bass Considered the Hendrix or Coltrane of beatmaking

His Instruments of Choice Akai MPC 3000 (release in 1994) Dilla really got into every aspect of this machine and made is a “true” musical instrument Later, for basslines, the Minimoog Voyager (around 2003 he started with this)

How J Dilla Humanized his MPC 3000 (2017)

“Fall In Love” (1998) Slum Village from Fantastic, Vol. 2 Contains two primary samples Gap Mangione “Diana In the Autumn Wind” (1968; : 27 seconds in) for melody/bassline Iron Buttlerfly “Soldier In Our Town” (1970; intro drum break) Here is Dilla's low end texture on display: low pass filter on the drum kicks and a filtered bassline on the loop (brought in full frequency on chorus)

“E=MC 2” (2006) Feat. Common and J Rocc, from The Shining On display is his use of the Minimoog for the bassline; borrowing from G-funk/P-funk aesthetics Note that the bassline itself is played loosely Contains two notable samples Giorgio Moroder “E=MC 2” (1979; 4: 20 ish) Manzel “Midnight Theme” (1979; opening drums)

Some Chops Two excellent examples of his chopping and programming J Dilla “Don't Cry” (2006) Takes drum kicks from The Escorts “I Can't Stand” and flips/rearranges them beautifully Black Star “Little Brother” (1999) Creates a instrumental loop from Roy Ayers Ubiquity “Ain't Got Time” (1971) He pulls 32 ½ second fragments to program this loop as Ayers talks all over the record

Old to the New (in general) 1) Sample records 2) Complex layering with beats 3) No Biting! 1) Sound packs and sample anything 2) Sparse beats/simple melodies 4) Authenticity > brand 3) What's biting? 4) Brand > authenticity 5) Longevity/Shelf Life 6) Lyricism 5) Virility/Memes 7) Gatekeepers 6) Sound/feel > lyrics 8) History 7) Democracy

Rappin, Deconstructed (2016) Vox also did Kanye deconstructed