Dilla Time - by Dan Charnas (Paperback)

About the Book

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 twenty-first century.

Book Synopsis

It's Dilla Time. Finally. Dilla Time is the story of the invention of a new kind of time, a new kind of sound by the most influential music producer of the last 25 years, someone you may never heard of: J. Dilla. He's revered by rappers, producers, and living legends of music-but Dilla himself never rose to mainstream fame, despite revolutionizing the way music sounds before his untimely death at the age of 32.

Review Quotes

"Stunning portrait of the short life and fast times of James Dewitt Yancey. . . sad, funny and unfailingly humane, it's not only one of the best books this writer has ever read about hip-hop but also sets a new gold standard for writing about music full stop."-- Ben Johnson, Mojo Magazine

"[Dilla Time] do[es] what good music books should: send you back to the source material . . . Dilla Time is an important piece of music writing, affording its African-American subject the respect that the rock establishment has long accorded its white heroes." --The Economist

"It's no ordinary book. . . equal parts biography, musical analysis and cultural history delving deep not only into Dilla's history and music but also into the histories of rhythm and his hometown of Detroit."--Variety

"Educational without being overbearing, emotional without turning saccharine, Dilla Time is a must-read not only for fans of Yancey, but anyone with a deep love for hip-hop or Black music, full stop."--The Ringer

"Dilla Time is a portrait of a complex genius taken too young, as well as a glorious study of the music and culture he created."--Spin

"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)

"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)

"Whenever I've been asked why Dilla was special, I didn't feel like I had the right vocabulary to explain his importance--specifically the way he made work that was so perfectly imperfect that it redefined the way I thought about art. Dan Charnas to the rescue. He scaled the mountain of Dilla's complex career and sent back instructions so that others could make the climb. This book is a must for everyone interested in illuminating the idea of unexplainable genius." --QUESTLOVE

"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 Negroland

"The greatest hip-hop producer of all time is getting the love and care his legacy deserves. Dilla Time is a master class." --DREAM HAMPTON

"With deep love and beautiful detail, this book gives credit where credit is most deserved." --DANYEL SMITH, author of Shine Bright

"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

"In the way that J Dilla's music was a portal for us to hear our world and feel the pulse of life anew, Charnas has made a portal through which to understand our time--historical time, musical time, and James Yancey's own time--in a new way. Dilla Time is a book that will be read and reread with as much pleasure as we have listened and relistened to Dilla's music. A masterpiece." --JEFF CHANG, author of Can't Stop Won't Stop

"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 PREMIER

"How can wrong be right? How can one be both universally revered and massively under-appreciated? Filled with impeccable reportage, elegant prose, and incandescent anecdotes, Dilla Time is more than an urgently needed biography of hip hop's most revolutionary producer. It is a testament to the never-ending struggle between creativity and mortality." --ROB KENNER, author of The Marathon Don't Stop: The Life and Times of Nipsey Hussle

About the Author

Dan Charnas is the author of the definitive history of the hip-hop business, The Big Payback (NAL/Penguin). He's also the author of Work Clean (Rodale/Harmony), a book detailing applying chefs' techniques to almost any life situation. He was the co-creator and executive producer of the VH1 movie and TV series, The Breaks. He lives in Manhattan, and is an associate professor at NYU/Tisch's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.