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

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

9781800751767

Colour

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format Books GB

Paperback

Format detail

Limited edition

Release date

2023-02-02

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Faber

Tax rate GB

UPC / Barcode

Artist

Dan Charnas

Genre GB

Music

Label GB

Faber is a renowned Publishing House (Group) that was founded in 1929 by Geoffrey Faber. With a rich history spanning over nine decades, Faber has established itself as a leading label in the music industry.

Throughout its existence, Faber has consistently showcased an impressive roster of talented artists and performers. From *iconic singers* to *innovative bands*, the label has been at the forefront of discovering and nurturing musical talent across various genres.

With a commitment to quality and artistic integrity, Faber continues to release groundbreaking albums that captivate audiences worldwide. The label's dedication to supporting its artists throughout their careers ensures that each release is meticulously crafted and represents the unique vision of the artist.

Books of the Year 2022

Vinyl variants, bonus material and signed editions exclusively available from Rough Trade.

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. 

He wasn't known to mainstream audiences, even though he worked with renowned acts like D'Angelo and Erykah Badu and influenced the music of superstars like Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson. 

He died at the age of thirty-two, and in his lifetime he never had a pop hit. Yet since his death, J Dilla has become a demigod: revered by jazz musicians and rap icons from Robert Glasper to Kendrick Lamar; memorialised in symphonies and taught at universities. And at the core of this adulation is innovation: a new kind of musical time-feel that he created on a drum machine, but one that changed the way traditional musicians play.

In Dilla Time, Dan Charnas chronicles the life of James DeWitt Yancey, from his gifted childhood in Detroit, to his rise as a Grammy-nominated hip-hop producer, to the rare blood disease that caused his premature death; and follows the people who kept him and his ideas alive. He also rewinds the histories of American rhythms: from the birth of soul in Dilla's own Motown, to funk, techno, and disco. Here, music is a story of Black culture in America and of what happens when human and machine times are synthesised into something new. 

Dilla Time is a different kind of book about music, a visual experience with graphics that build those concepts step by step for fans and novices alike, teaching us to see and feel rhythm in a unique and enjoyable way. Dilla's beats, startling some people with their seeming 'sloppiness,' were actually the work of a perfectionist al- most spiritually devoted to his music. 

This is the story of the man and his machines, his family, friends, partners, and celebrity collaborators. Culled from more than 150 interviews about one of the most important and influential musical figures of the past hundred years, Dilla Time is a book as delightfully detail-oriented and unique as J Dilla's music itself.