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

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Dilla Time's cover artwork was designed by Rodrigo Corral. The New York Times listed it as one of the best book covers of 2022, calling it "an image that signals the zones of [J Dilla's] many talents while nodding to the relationship between that talent and work ethic (and beats)," also noting the exclusion of Charnas' name from the cover. [8] Reception [ edit ] I like when Charnas is ambitious enough to step beyond the bounds of simple biography -- both in those historical excursions (mostly clustered in the early sections) and the passages on musical technique. The book becomes an unpleasant thing when such a turn is all-too-unfortunately appropriate. And the milieu of the posthumous legal snafus is hardly a fun portion to putter through. 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)

Matthew Perry Almost Turned Down 'Friends' For A Show "About Baggage Handlers At The LA Airport In The Year 2194" An uneven biography that could've been edited down in the biography portions and more fleshed out in the theory portions. Dilla’s reputation has only grown since he passed away. How has his influence persisted when so much has changed?Thus all music begins with the second event. The indivisible number of rhythm is two, for it is the space between the first and second beat that sets our musical expectations and tells us when to expect the third, and so on.

This engineering/technological minutia is delivered in layman’s terms. Dan drops the science like it’s scalding, and does so in a language that just about anybody can easily understand. The persistent negativity and conflict in the wake of his death are almost a bit too much to bear, but now fans—and even his friends—are able to better grasp the fissures and disconnects that have occasionally drowned out the air-horns and accolades that deserve to rain down on Dilla unabated.Madrigal, Alexis (4 February 2022). "The Genius of Hip-Hop Producer J Dilla Shines in New Book 'Dilla Time' by Dan Charna". KQED . Retrieved 5 March 2023.

Gizelle Bryant Breaks Her Silence After Leah McSweeney Put Her On Blast In Bombshell Bravo Investigation: "I Don't Need A Producer To Tell Me To Do Anything" (Exclusive)In diving into Dilla’s kaleidoscopic, voluminous catalog of releases, beat tapes, bootlegs, overseas rarities and the like, Charnas does not let anything get by him – with regards to the music James made, who he made it with, and precisely how it was executed. He tunnels from the inspiration to the samples, the equipment to the cannabis, and oscillates even further into the Church of Dilla and its mythical abyss. 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