As told by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson on Okayplayer.com
there was a small airport in detroit that had direct flights to jersey and nyc that me and com use to take so much i swear they were gonna offer us stock in the business. it was early 1999 and this was before the jet blueitization of america. matter of fact, america looked down on those small companies after one of them crashed some months before. now we take that shit like its no thing.
anywho. we got word of a blizzard that was coming to the D and com wanted to take no risks and wanted to leave asap so he could make a show. so that left me dilla and frank of frank n dank.
i decided to stick to my normal schedule and stay til monday when i was scheduled to leave.
com decides to take the sunday afternoon jawn on the fly. of course i say he’s overreacting and im proven wrong once there was about 7 inches on the floor a few hours later. frank nitty laughs at me cause now im stuck in the D. we actually make the most of it. ran to blockbuster to stock up on flicks (detroit is the only place on earth street cats will let prince get away with murder so it was nice to rent under the cherry moon without cringing in front of non prince experts. we also rented my new favorite film of all B films Hav Plenty. stocked up on food. and for the first time ever just chilled for 2 days without the prime motivation being “work”. but of course that dont mean dilla didn’t provide me with the most amazing display of workmanship ive ever seen.
i mean i knew dude was the crazy when skillz let me hear a beat tape.
and i knew dude wasn’t right when booty brown played me a precabincalifornia.
and i knew i wouldn’t be the same when dangleo and tip played me the ENTIRE fantastic cassette over the phone LONG DISTANCE to germany (my bill was $382 bucks and WORTH EVERY FUCKING CENT)
and i knew i was in for a treat the many times i came to the crib.
and i knew i was witnessing history when him and pete rock re created half of “mecca and the soul brother” in the basement the weekend “dynamite” was created.
but man…..
what i learned eavesdropping 8am the following day made me a believer. that shit made me the stan of ALL stans.
if you are on my computer and need to find dilla. go to genre, and if he had something to do with it? it will be known for its tag: DILLA is GOD.
i won’t go into reasons why….for it could be longer than this post. and at this rate its just baiting those who disagree or who refuse to see it or who just wanna be contradictory (aka okayplayers lol)
so i heard this bassline playing for like a good 30 mins
initially i was asleep on the couch upstairs so i knew the bassline from pete’s interlude. which i thought “oh he’s gonna recreate that interlude”
so i came downstairs and asked what he’s up to and he was like
(think brotherman on martin)
“…..nuttin…..just….you’know…..zonin…..tryna figure our how to freak this shit….i got an idea in my head but i have to figure out how to solve the puzzle…..its gonna come to me….but i got to figure out how….”
—now this is the first straight up beat i saw him make from scratch. most of the time he just grabs the ram file and blamo the beat is up (day we first met the “got til its gone” parts were already in the machine and he just created “let’s start” for tribe so i had missed those)
first thing i notice is his patience factor….when i make beats i play the record on 45 im skipping parts i aint got time to listen to a record over and over and over and over again….
i ask him about this and he said its better to suffer for 30 mins with a record than to skim through the shit and next thing you know you hear someone else use a part you coulda freaked better but cause of lack of patience you opted not to.
hmmm novel thought.
so i asked which approach is his gonna take….and he said he wanted to see if there was another juicy part for him to take…
so now we a half hour into it i was like “well…..there are no clean parts…..roy is talking all over that shit over and over….its impossible to find a juicy spot.”
lol i wonder if he was appeasing me like “you mere mortal do you not know i created heaven and earth in 7 days? muahahahahahaah” in his head.
he just said
“yuuup….pssshhh man…..i dunno how imma freak it”
so he made a cassette copy for his range and we grabbed food before it was time to take me to the airport.
we went to greektown and came back and he decided before he was going to put the record to bed (this aint the first time he gave up on a loop….the breath and stop sample frustrated him so much he gave me the record to which he would reluctantly find something to give to tip on a last minute attempt) so before the airport he decided to record every piece of the song that had 0 talking on it.
so its like…
an hour later and he has made about 20 pads on the 3000 with samples no longer than half a second each.
he even did a “be my guest” and let me get on to see if i could make some chitterlings off the table scraps from the big house.
nothing.
he retired the thought and drove me to the airport.
i got home and he left a message on my machine.
“whoooooooooooooooooooooooo!! yo! i figured it out!!!!”
check it!!!
(this is okp’s own JP’s version of the beat so you can have a clear idea on how fucking impossible it is to find the open spots on this beat)
i was speechless. again. to understand dilla you must first immerse yourself in the music that he uses to create beats. and only when you hear this song more than 20 times you will soon see how fucking impossible it is to make this beat as a mere person (so what is JP up to by the way?)
then i was like “yo pete is gonna be fucked up when he hears THIS shit!”
dilla: NONONONONONONONONO!! naw man….you can’t let him hear this man i cant afford that!
?uest: afford what? this shit is a miracle!!
dilla: nah man….like i dont want no tension. that’s my idol i dont wanna give off the impression that im trying to outshine him….
?uest: but dog im saying if you shine then…..
dilla: nah man….
?uest: so all this shit i got with samples he’s us—
dilla: yeah man dont let that shit get out man….i just do it for practice….
?uest: wait….so this beat is never going to see the light of day ever? you just made it and lost sweat over it for…..sport?
dilla: yeah man….i just practice……
thank god…..kweli had a cassette which had this beat on it for like 15 secs.
they looped it from the cassette.
but it was too late and he shrugged it off….
but man……that humility.
if i found a way to bust somebodys ass for the world to see?
sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit i be the first to be like
“oh yeah chris? but can you play with drumsticks in yo pinky toe chump?!?!!?!?!?”
my man.
dilla.
Love Philly since Mitch Thomas on DAS…and TV (ask Dick Clark)… Delaware Valley…Long Live Clifford.!
Love Detroit , so sincere! The heritage is so long…and its deep too
Love Black music to the point that that close encounters of the 3rd kind jawhn makes sence…
sub interval particles
Peace eternal to Dilla
? is a straight treasure yoop-yoop on Lay it Down “Al Green can sing to dat” …3rd person
Devin Beck need to rock-rock on
Ey ,
If there’s anyone just anyone that is thinking that producers are doin this all the time EAT U’RE SHIT!`!
Cause than u’re aint diggin it.
other while this shit is groovin as hell!
Rest in Peace Dilla
What sample did he use?
anyone??
R.I.P. Dilla!
Amazing Brother from Detroit! And the dedication to the art of producing, wow kind of blows your mind away. My four year old son is in love with the song too…
Big Up’s to Dilla.
^The Sample is from Roy Ayers cuzo…
Yo I remember when The Roots sent a package w/ the Things fall apart & Like water for Choc posters & other promotional shit… Anyways in the box was a box of singles from the Hurricane soundtrack which had this song “Little Brother” & the very first time I heard it I did a fucking backflip!!! I still love this track the beat has such a great feel. I always thought it was a loop / Man was I wrong!! -“just for practice” DAMN!!! -Spon of Beat Fanatic
The only positive with these days and times having SO MANY wannabe beatmakers is:
that it makes it the norm to have thousands of people try to analyze, scrutinize, critique, admire, and ultimately honor the work of the musical god, Dilla–and raises awareness and recognition for WHY Dilla was a musical god.
Dilla…oh my god…I was bumping this for an hour straight..it took me about 30 minutes into the session to realize how impossible that beat was to make. It hit me and I freaked. I was just in absolute shock.
Dilla…I cant wait for heaven…Im gona hear some good shit when me and all your loyal fans get there.
From
– A True Dilla Fan
I was in Augusta, Ga. when Pete Rock &CL Smooth did a show to promote their 2nd album. I bought the tape and was just zoned out when the interlude after “in the house”. I kept playing it over and over again, and me being a DJ I was tryin’ to find out who pete sampled this from, being a musician wanted to try to recreate that(i still have that same tape). I ended up going back home in California and walked into this record store (on Kst. mall in Sacramento) and they was playing Roy Ayers, same part in pete rock’s interlude. I flipped i try to buy that record but the clerk said it was his copy ( i think he was lying,lol). Anyways i hear little brother by Blackstar and i have to give it up to Dilla, the brotha was serious about his craft. RIP j dilla & Jeff Eason.
PEACE,FROM THE BAY.
DILLA = LIVES (THROUGH THE MUSIC HE GIVES) THAT’S THE BIZ.
COME VIBE;
KIN CAMELL(GOOGLE THAT)
MYSPACE.COM/KINSNSPACE
KIN [email protected]
TWITTER.COM/KINSTWITT
PEACE TO YOU & YOURS.
i think the pete and dilla version are very similiar….where is the difference?
For so long, I disliked sampling songs with too many vocal over the parts I wanted to use. Then, I heard Donuts. That change how I made music, from then on. I thought Dilla didn’t care if there were vocals all over a song he was going to sample. So, to read that he had difficulty using the Roy Ayers sample due to too many vocals proved he was human. Then, the story goes onto say how he meticulously dissected the Roy Ayers joint the way he did. This proved he was superhuman. It has been over three years and he continues to influence how I make music. That kind of genius cannot be learned. Dudes like him, Michael and countless others have been given a gift only Jehovah can grant. Dilla was nothing short of dope. And, to all my fellow Dilla-ites, that’s the understatement of understatements. Peace.
P.S.
The fact he didn’t want Pete Rock to hear the beat was noteworthy act of humility, in my opinion. It was like he didn’t want to undermine his sensei’s work. Dilla was my sensei. He continues to be so, posthumously. There were many of his beats I wanted to redo. Though, I don’t think I would’ve reacted the same way. If he were alive, then I’d run to him with the newly reworked beat like “Master, do you approve?” lol
Fantastic story on how a legend executed his craft.
But what I want to know is WHAT THE @£?”>D” happened to Black Star??????????? Mos Def needs to ring up Kweli and go to J Dilla Estate (or whoever’s got legal rights over his remaining material) and grab some beats and drop a sick album. Seriously guys, get it together.