J Dilla: Clueless or Genius?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
- Was J Dilla clueless or genius? Some people say he's overrated, others swear by his intelligence, so I decided to find out for myself.
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I saw somewhere that Dilla remade an entire drum break sample from a Roy Ayers song because there was a monologue over it. He literally broke it down to 64th-note microseconds and found 64 tiny shards with no talking and managed to recreate the drums without the monologue. His music may not be in some people's personal tastes, and that's fine, but that man was a fucking genius. Great vid.
wow... if that is true, which I can totally see it being true, that is an incredible accomplishment by J Dilla, probably the kind of thing that he would be unphased by, like "ya, I recreated a drum break cause there was monologue, so what?" If you can find where you read/heard that please let me know! Thanks for watching fam have an outstanding day
Black star - little brother
@@dawsonkamenzquestlove talked about in a Red Bull interview. He didnt just reconstruct the drum break, there was an entire chord progression and melody above everything that was also covered up by spoken word. By reconstructing the drum break, dilla was also creating an entirely new melody and chord progression. The song is little brother by Black Star
@@toma8283 when i was learning to play drums I took little brother to my teacher and it blew his mind 😂
The biggest misconception is that Dilla didnt "quantize" . He actually quantized a lot. He just programmed the swing % in the MPC 3000 on different drum hits. Which is incredible in and of its self. He was using the MPC like a FL/Ableton Grid. Pure Genuis
master of the machines for sure
TODAY'S THE 7TH OF FEBRAURY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DILLA!
the legend 🤩
People say he is over-rated because of the sheer amount of people that adore his work from all different walks of life, it's almost like it can't be true or it's a fad. However, sometimes things are what they seem, he's a one in million talent for sure and has influenced most of our favourite beat-makers from the late 90S up until now.
That is a really great way to put it. Some people see all these voices saying "J Dilla wa sooo good, he was the best etc" and they think, they must just be saying that to join the fan club. But it's true, J Dilla deserves the praise he gets because he really was a great producer and visionary. Thanks for watching & leaving a great comment!
@@dawsonkamenz Totally, I like the way you put that too. You got me thinking now, actually another reason people may say this (I'm not trying to be a snob, I promise ha) is because they were not there while he was active. Being fortunate to grow up in that era when he was as alive & well and to have a few different social groups in school (when blank homemade Cassettes/CDs compilations were being passed without artist-credits) you would see first hand the Jay-Dee effect on groups of people who had few commonalities because sub-cultures were so pronounced at the time. Even more interesting is that people knew his music, however no one really knew who he was. You could go as far as saying he was even grossly underrated. Personally, I knew him from Slum Village but viewed him as a rapper mainly (similar to how Q-tip is viewed even though he has produced classics). After he passed away, people (myself included) started to realise he was the enigma behind a huge body of work that they had been enjoying for a while in their homes, on radio and in clubs. 'Super-Producers' were just becoming a thing (Your Timbos / Swiss' / Neptunes / Ye) but he wasn't regarded as one of them. Still, to have t-shirts saying Dilla Changed/Saved my life was definitely an accurate sentiment reflective of that era in music and his person as a pioneer. Apologies for the dissertation, haha no other way to explain the magic. Appreciate your video. Big ups!
This was a well produced video. Congratulations. As a musician and a J Dilla connoisseur, some of the adjectives that disparage or categorizes his skill set continues to shine a light of negativity on his work. You definitely acknowledge him as a genius, I will consider acknowledging his work as unique versus “off time”… and any other descriptives that places him in a judgmental set. He is no different than The Genius and the greatness of Charles Mingus, Thelonius, Monk, Charlie, Parker, Sam Cook, and countless other artists within the Black American music medium. Again, thank you for your presentation and putting out fires of negative judgment, but we want to discontinue the language that permeates the ether on this discussion as an ongoing detail giving this fine gentleman and negative light.
Wow thank you for the comment and the compliments, as well as opinion on the matter. It's curious that Questlove said of J Dilla's rhythm, "it sounded like a drunk 3 year old." J Dilla was blessed to be so talented that he is misunderstood. If everybody understood him and his methods, and only spoke plainly and positively of him, he wouldn't be the disruptor and innovator that he was and still is.
Questlove changed is opinion of J Dilla 's rhythmic feel once he began to studied it closely and with intent.
Lauryn Hill collaborated with musicians who have roots in the *go-go* scene or who have incorporated *go-go* influences into their music. One notable example is the musician and producer James "J Dilla" Yancey, who worked with Lauryn Hill on her album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill." *Go-go* originated in Washington, DC.
wow... amazing
In terms of his influences, you should really check he applied his influences on his welcome to Detroit album, like water for chocolate and his spear beats. Just how he would pull things together, replay things and translate his influences.
I think he was quite tasteful, intelligent and revisioned everything.
But that also means you need to do deeeep dives into his influences, samples, styles and in between. He is really eclectic by design
w2d was the first album from J i ever heard. beautiful work. definitely tasteful and such a risk taker, always pushing to the next level of normal.
thanks for watching & commenting fam take care 🤩
This is awesome! Gave me a whole new appreciation for J Dilla. Would love to see more videos like this one!
Might find a full J Dilla bio video on the channel soon.
J Dilla did what he wanted to do with the music
yes exactly, super involved in every little detail, wanted so much freedom. only at the very end of his life did he relinquish some creative decisions in regards to Donuts. Amazing musician. Thanks for watching fam.
@@Ed13XI'm trying to understand how it is easier to give accolades to J Dilla after his death? I think you have to explain to me the part about appropriating his culture, I'm not sure I understand. But thank you anyways for watching and commenting.
@@Ed13XOhh word okay I see what you mean. Ya like, J Dilla wasn't just doing it to be purposefully bad or off 😂
@@Ed13XDude thanks for explaining and watching in general, have a great day fam
It’s his way of his different rhythmic path 🥁 that make him genius 🎉
yes... such a peculiar and innovative angle on conventional rhythm!
Dilla was never clueless.
He certainly proved his genius through his work
You know something funny…
People (usually Caucasians Journalists ) asked the same questions about Thelonius Monk 70 years ago 😂😂
But he’s is LITERALLY Considered THE GENIUS OF MODERN MUSIC
True, and Charlie Parker. People said his playing was "frantic," of course now he's understood as a turning point in jazz. I definitely was curious about Monk when I first heard him, but then just as I studied Dilla in this video, I analyzed and found that Monk too was calculated and intentional, ie. genius! I would never appreciate Monk or Dilla if it weren't for me asking and being curious about their skill level. Thank God I was curious enough to ask and study, cause now I've expanded my horizon!
Peoples need to grade and score art is fucked in the head.
makes sense, since i do have a condition called "curious-about-musicians-skill-and-wants-to-learn-more-by-questioning-osis" it's a real condition
Dilla was a natural. Scientist will never figure out the entirety of the universe, but many try.
Indeed , being genetically gifted is not fully understood in his musical prowess.
That's true. Us humans want to know exactly what was happening, the exact timing, the exact methods, but sometimes it's better to just attribute to Dilla his skill and simply enjoy his music!
@@dawsonkamenz for sure. Dilla went unnoticed for years and when he first came out there were mad heads that hated his beats. I mean hated his beats and thought he messed up ATCQ as he was a new addition and changed their sound somewhat…for the better…he still continued to do his work. He wasn’t really honored for his hard work until he linked up with Madlib, another natural gift to hip hop music. They were a match made in heaven. Dilla passed and everybody hopped on his jock…He is an artist worth your time and money. He buttoned up the house those before him help build.
Ya... He became almost deified. I know it sounds morbid, but I wish he could make a public statement about himself, how people treated him while he was alive vs after, everything. I know he would have some wise thing to say.
@@dawsonkamenz man that’s an interesting thought. We could only imagine.
Without watching this video, I hope this was an attempt to showcase a pioneer and trying to disprove those who doubt him.
(I’ve also read the book btw 🤙🏽🍩)
Not trying to disprove, just trying to find out for myself. Everyone will have their own opinions. My opinion is that J Dilla's music is proof of his genius though hahaha 😂😂 Thanks for watching and have a great day!
@@dawsonkamenz maybe the title irked me. Keep the content coming brudda
dope video gang much love
ah man thank you so much! just put a smile on my face 🤩
J Dilla was a musician from a musical family. He was a multi - instrumentialist
Yes! Musical environment since birth!
Remember most of the stuff Jay Dee did was on MPC3000, that drum machine has no waveform...he was chopping stuff with the ear.
wow... the patience that must have needed
5 seconds in, i'll answer it for you, Genius. Thanks for the video. I'm off to watch something else. 🤣
You are fortunate to intuitively know J Dilla was a genius. I had to find out for myself by listening carefully and learning. Thus, I am less of a man. lol have a great day fam
@@dawsonkamenz I was only playing, I watched the whole video after I posted this 😂 But for sure dude was a genius and it’s crazy how people downplay him, also bearing in mind he was doing all of it with relatively primitive techniques and creating some of the best hip hop tracks of all time that defined an entire genre… But keyboard warriors have always done better right… 🙄😂 Great video dude!
dude u made me laugh just now 😂😂 hope i gave u a laugh too fam God bless you
Dilla was that dude. A genius
100% not to mention his technical ability w/the akai and crate digging
and thanks for watching btw!
@@dawsonkamenz he gave new meaning to the word crate digging
great vid
Thanks man!
Correction regarding the sheet music transcriptions around the 2 min mark, only one of those is actually a dilla beat. Left and Right was Questlove drumming, and How Many Stars are There is a track produced by Idealism released in 2015.
I know these transcriptions are mentioned in an article about Dilla, but if you read the article you’d see that they pointed out that they weren’t all him
Noted
Thanks for the video. At 4:00 it sounds like you quantized to the quarter note. I would think quantizing it to the 16th note, with a swinging 16th setting, would be a better way to illustrate the difference.
Ah good call, that's right, it would have been more accurate to put it on a 16th or 8th note swing. The quarter note compared to the Dilla feel is a bit exaggerated I admit 😂
You eirher like the music or you dont, thats it.. stop using the dead for views
thanks for viewing this video man, take care
He clearly knew what he was doing alot of his beats are basic af somewhat boring but there's something about how it swings that makes up for it being so basic almost hypnotic
dude hypnotic is the perfect word for it! he could make a loop feel like a living breathing piece of music just by having unique swing & timing. such a legend
and thanks for watching man!
“Not quite my tempo.”
Nice Whiplash reference.
Dude YES i was hoping there would be someone who would note that lol you just made my day
@@dawsonkamenzyo that “A Piece of the Action” film story… did you learn that in the Dilla Time book?
@@soundshape6496Yes, it's in the first couple chapters if I remember correctly. There's also a few podcast episodes in which Charnas tells that story
Great video!
Wow, thank you so much for the support man!
4:06 how is that the same beat locked to a grid? It's a totally different beat. The hihats and the fill at the end are gone 🫤
ya... i could have done a better example. I just took the kick and snare so people could hear the main parts of the beat but i guess it is a bit misleading lol.
It’s funny, all I see is that j dilla is good, so you’re clueless part brought me here. But I produce so of course producers love him, I don’t think it’s good personally for the most part.
I see, he's not really your style? What are some of your top artists? Thanks for watching btw!
@@dawsonkamenz yea I think maybe it’s just the swing you’re talking about feels off. I use to be in drum line and stuff so I’m used to having to try and be on beat. Favorite artist are Drake, Kanye, and lately lil yachty, but technically kid cudi is in my top 3
@@reedbeavers6223dude no way! Similar story, drums was the first instrument I learned. I had practiced so hard to be exactly on time, using "off" rhythms as a way of expression was so foreign to me. You still play?
@@dawsonkamenz I don’t unfortunately; I need a set. But I’d love to, I just produce right now. And from that aspect I do kinda see the value of being different and creative. Great video by the way!
Let's go dude, drummer-turned-producer team lol. Thanks for the support fam have a great day 👊🏻
Machine or instrument,
ITS CALLED
FUNK,
which is a Spirit within
The Black Man
J Dilla was a unique human being, he stood out against everyone
Great video fam! Subbed fasho! DILLA 4 EVA
ah man thank you so much! i appreciate those kind words, have an outstanding day fam
He couldn't have been clueless, he kept repeating the same techniques in a uniquely different variation over and over.
That's a great point. He wasn't random, he was calculated and consistent. It's a shame people try to emulate him by being sloppy or unskilled.
Why would he be clueless? He had the ear of a hip-hop production god
There are natural haters that exist to do what they do. They're not tuned to his gift.
He totally had that ear. Such a great musician. I mean, I saw people saying he was hyped up and clueless, so I tried to do some digging to see if there was evidence to that claim, but I don't think there is.
Dilla Time - great read.
Great and sad... Rarely do I get emotional reading a book but the final years of James life were very hard to read through
Please please NEVER use 'clueless' in relation to J DILLA ever again. It is deeply disrespectful and clickbait. You did discover his genius and his Gift to the world yet your word choice needs more consideration.
you said it yourself, my word choice
Dilla, Nas, Eminem are all overrated.
This is the worst comment on TH-cam besides the Eminem reference
You must be young , white and Gay
i mean to each their own, but now i'm curious who your fav musicians are? like who are the geniuses in your eyes?
lol 😂
bro 😂😂