How J Dilla Has Always Been in my Life

From the ages of about 13 to 19, I watched Adult Swim every other night. I'd fall asleep to either Evangelion or one of the old anime that would only come on around 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. And before and after commercials, everybody who grew up with AS knows, the "bumps" would appear with music:

I didn't know until years later that the music in some of those bumps was from none other than J Dilla.

As an artist and music fan, I can only go for so long without thinking about the legendary producer. Or at least some musical idea related to him. I might sound like a huge fan boy saying Dilla Day is everyday, but that’s why I do.

Towards the end of my teenage years, I started freestyling over random beats I'd find on YouTube. I always felt like my freestyles were better whenever I'd rap over Dilla beats. I slowly started learning that he was the man behind a lot of early hip-hop groups: A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde, Slum Village, and various other artists. I didn't learn until a few years that the beat for Snakes, from Joey Bada$$'s 1999, is from Dilla. No wonder it’s my favorite song from the album.

I started playing guitar around that time too. Listening to Runnin' by The Pharcyde, I realized Dilla sampled jazz records, and I eventually got the idea to learn how to play the kind of music he would sample so I can make beats like him.

I know people talk about his use of the MPC a lot and there's a great book called Dilla Time by Dan Charnas, but Dilla's sample selection always caught my ear. His beats usually sounded interesting and emotionally potent.

As I got older, rap became more of a focus, but after I started learning production, I got serious about learning jazz to some extent too. At least enough to play chord melodies and make my own samples. Dilla made me think, "why do I feel this way when I listen to this beat, but not when I listen to something else?" That sparked the desire to not only learn how to make beats, but to learn more about music theory and why I like what I like.

Because of Dilla, I got into learning chord melodies and jazz standards and tunes like My Favorite Things, The Girl From Ipanema, The Look of Love, Autumn leaves, and more.

For my 29th birthday, a good friend gifted me a hard copy of Dilla Time. Reading that book for me is like looking at a great collage of my musical influences. In the chapter Dilla Descendants, a lot was made clear and some holes in my knowledge were filled.

Since I mentioned Adult Swim, I have to mention Nujabes as well (I know he deserves his own essay). My brothers and I regularly listened to his music. I listened to Hydeout Productions 2nd Collection all the time throughout high school. I didn't know until years later that him and Dilla share a birthday on Feb 7th.

I'm forever grateful for them and that I got to grow up listening to their music.

RIP Dilla & Nujabes