There was definitely a lot to work with. I want to start by saying that it’s harder to write the stories of people who aren’t white, due to white supremacist culture’s resistance to preserving them. Related, it’s even harder to write deep, seriously researched biographies of people in hip-hop. There aren’t that many around. I realised that nobody else was doing this, and a decade had passed since his death. I thought, ‘If I don’t do it, it will never be done’. Dilla’s reputation has only grown since he passed away. How has his influence persisted when so much has changed? As a father/romantic-partner/brother/son/responsible human being, Dilla left much to be desired, and left a legion of pain in his passing. It's important to memorialize those elements of people as well because it's real. We live in the real world. It is what it is. However, the respect that Dan Charnas gave all these narratives was commendable. It never felt like a side was taken, and I respect that so much. He even eviscerated the toxic fan culture around J Dilla, the beat-loving culture vulture bros that ruin things with their "J Dilla Saved My Life" T-Shirts when "they don't know who Slum Village is". I'm not a purist, and I don't know it all. However, if I had a dollar for every time I've rolled my eyes as some dude tried to explain Dilla to me, I'd have a lot of money. I'm glad that he pointed out the toxic bro culture, BIG daps to Charnie for that! That was awesome.

Dorfman, Matt (9 December 2022). "The Best Book Covers of 2022". The New York Times . Retrieved 5 March 2023. Stream It Or Skip It: ‘When Evil Lurks’ on Shudder, an Innovative Demonic-Possession Horror That Just Might Be The Scariest Movie of 2023 With this assiduously researched, stirringly told, and expansively elucidated accounting of J Dilla’s life as muse, mythos, and generationally transformative composer of hip-hop beats, Dan Charnas has provided readers with an alchemist’s cookbook of its titular, wizardly subject.” — GREG TATE, author of Flyboy in the Buttermilk One of the main ones was Q-Tip, who plays such a fundamental role in James’ life and development. First he said he would talk, then he said he wouldn’t talk. I think what happened with him, and others who were reluctant to speak, was someone came along to tell them that I wasn’t on some bullshit. I think people are very protective of James and his legacy, and want to make sure it’s being done justice.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) It was a magical night," Atwood-Ferguson says of the event. "In an age when hip-hop music is so frowned upon, an event like this one was just a little indicator that, in fact, it deserves profound respect and is just as valid as any other art form. Mrs Yancey was in tears – she was glowing with appreciation, pride and wonderment. Some of the most meaningful moments in my entire life were spent getting to enjoy that whole experience with her."

Most assuredly," he laughs. "Jimi Hendrix. Stevie Wonder. John Coltrane. The Beatles. James Brown. This is just the tip of the iceberg." Twenty years before the Roots became the house band for NBC’s The Tonight Show in 2014—placing them at the epicenter of the American cultural mainstream—they were an obscure hip-hop act promoting their first album on the road, opening for only slightly less obscure hip-hop acts. 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.Our Take: It’s one thing to listen to, read about, or hear someone tell you how innovative J Dilla’s beatmaking was. But in Legacy, it’s something wonderfully different when DJ Jazzy Jeff provides an audio and visual example by triggering percussion sounds on an MPC and illustrating the savvy of just where Dilla put them. (Onscreen animation adds the tutorial.) The revolutionary sampling and sequencing machine literally has a button you press to make things perfect, to streamline and crisp up a constructed rhythm. But as Jazzy Jeff describes it, Dilla took that machine and added a human element to its tech. He built imprecision into perfection – what we hear is how he meant it – and people have been trying to emulate his ability to do that forever. But there’s never going to be a “Dilla button” on the MPC. Dilla loves five-bar loops," he says. "He loves sevens and elevens as well, but within the phrases of five, he will have different parts of the beat looped in threes, fives and sevens a lot as well. Two of my other favorite musicians, Billie Holliday and Elvin Jones, very naturally phrase in three, five, and seven as well, without even seemingly being consciously of it." The Gilded Age’ Cast: Meet The New Season 2 Cast Members, From Robert Sean Leonard, to Christopher Denham, And More 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. In 1997, at another recording studio in New York City, the singer D’Angelo assembled a band to record his second album. In addition to Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson on drums, there were James Poyser on keyboards and Roy Hargrove on horns. The odd man out in this crew of young Americans was the London-based bassist Pino Palladino.