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 21st-century.
... a 400-page biography out Feb. 1 that thoroughly examines the hip-hop producer’s unique approach ... Over the years, there has been almost a deification of Dilla; Charnas’s book takes great efforts to humanize him. Though he is sympathetic to his subject’s struggles—particularly his misfortunes as an artist in the major label system and his deteriorating health—Charnas does not shy away from describing his imperfections ... One of the foundational Dilla myths is how he arrived at his signature sound, in which the rhythm can feel off, different or just wrong. Some have said it was a failure to quantize his compositions, a feature in digital recording that eliminates human error and puts the timing of drum beats in their 'correct' place. Charnas explains that Dilla’s process was more complex and that he took multiple steps to purposefully accentuate the sonic effects of error ... Charnas also clarifies the story around Donuts, an instrumental album that Stones Throw Records released right before Dilla’s death that has become a key entry point for new generations of fans.
If all of this seems extremely technical, trust that as Charnas offers examples and invitations to clap-along, you’ll soon hear—or rather feel—the beats landing slightly off-time ... This is where Charnas’ book excels. It puts Dilla at the centre of a revolution still resonating today, casting Dilla as an artist that added a human touch to machine music, brought emotion to the monotonous twos-and-fours. While at times overly technical and certainly too long, Dilla Time places the producer at the centre of a musical revolution as big as anything from the last century. Few musicians have influenced music like Dilla, and now we can truly understand how.
... a detailed, well-researched, and passionate analysis of the music and life of the influential hip-hop composer, producer, and musician James Dewitt Yancey, aka Jay Dee or J Dilla. Charnas has written not simply a biography but, rather, an unconventional, journalistic documentation of musical sounds and their progressions in history and culture, whether originating in Africa, Europe, or elsewhere.
