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

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Dilla Time's cover artwork was designed by Rodrigo Corral. The New York Times listed it as one of the best book covers of 2022, calling it "an image that signals the zones of [J Dilla's] many talents while nodding to the relationship between that talent and work ethic (and beats)," also noting the exclusion of Charnas' name from the cover. [8] Reception [ edit ] In 1999, writer Dan Charnas met J Dilla and Common while the two musicians were working on Common's album Like Water for Chocolate at J Dilla's home studio in Conant Gardens, Detroit. [4] [5] Charnas cites this meeting as "the real origin of the book." [5] This book is a must for everyone interested in illuminating the idea of unexplainable genius.”—QUESTLOVE

We get to be a fly on the wall for the Soulquarians era at Electric Lady Studios in New York City for the making of D’Angelo’s Voodoo, Common’s Like Water for Chocolate, and Badu’s Mama’s Gun. The day-to-day details of Dilla’s time living with Common in Los Angeles, working with Madlib and the cats at Stones Throw, the making of his swan song album, Donuts, and just about everything and everybody in between. Readers tag along on legendary Dilla pilgrimages to New York City in the early days, Philly bro-dates and record store missions with DJ Jazzy Jeff, then later Europe and Brazil with the homies. J Dilla turned what one generation deemed musical error into what the next knew to be musical innovation. In this splendid book, Dan Charnas offers an uncanny mix of research and vision, documentation and interpretation, plenitude and momentum. Dilla Time is definitive. And exhilarating’ – Margo Jefferson, author of NegrolandAt the 2023 PEN Awards, Dilla Time won the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography. [12] Film adaptation [ edit ] 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.” — Kirkus (starred review)

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 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) For the rap nerds and Dillaphiles, Charnas takes readers inside a plethora of the producer’s most crucial collaborations. Dilla’s embryonic lair in the Yancey family’s basement in Conant Gardens. Primordial Slum Village studio sessions at RJ Rice’s in Detroit. Inter-band fistfights recording The Pharcyde’s “Runnin’” on Delicious Vinyl. Production squad The Ummah’s inception, explosion, and dissolution, and how it affected Dilla’s relationship with Q-Tip moving forward.Damn, that’s crazy,” James replied. “I’m surprised.” Something about this gesture didn’t compute for James: a producer promoting someone who could potentially be competition. But Q-Tip was from a different school of thought: brotherhood. Roberts, Randall (25 February 2022). "Studio fights, ghost stories and more revelations in bestselling new bio on producer J Dilla". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 5 March 2023.

I've been reading @ethanhein since before I ever conceived "Dilla Time," so this was a treat. https://t.co/NV7V4xTkJ3 I look at J Dilla as a man who redefined the word ‘innovative.’ This book makes you feel like you traveled his journey every single step.” —DJ PREMIERAfter they left Q-Tip’s crib with the beat tape in hand, Tre got suspicious. Q-Tip is pushing us onto some mysterious, new producer that nobody’s ever heard of, from a city that hardly any hip-hop has come out of, but the beats are banging and sound just like Q-Tip’s stuff?