Search Results for: dilla week

We wrap up Dilla Week, in celebration of #93 in the 33 1/3 series, J Dilla’s Donuts by Jordan Ferguson (out now!), with our perennial favorite feature: the video vault. Enjoy, and thanks to Jordan for his hard and thoughtful work! Deciding on a video to wrap up Donuts week proved more difficult than I was expecting. I wanted to hand the spotlight to the man himself, but considering the nature of the album and the circumstances of its creation, there aren’t any official videos or live footage of its…

Welcome back to Dilla Week, in celebration of #93 in the 33 1/3 series, J Dilla’s Donuts by Jordan Ferguson (out now!). Today, Jordan speaks to the enormous staying power of Dilla’s work, long after the man himself is gone. One of the things that continues to amaze me about J Dilla (and there are many) is that for a man who passed away over eight years ago, his influence is felt as much today as it was when he was alive, if not more. His aesthetic can be heard…

Welcome back to Dilla Week, in celebration of #93 in the 33 1/3 series, J Dilla’s Donuts by Jordan Ferguson (out now!). Today, Jordan talks about lessons in life and music courtesy James Yancey. In my experience, there are two types of hip-hop fans: one type appreciates the music as it is, and is content to enjoy it on its own merits; the other feels compelled to dig into the workings of the music, to discover the sample sources and investigate how DJs and producers have used them to create…

Welcome to Dilla Week, in celebration of #93 in the 33 1/3 series, J Dilla’s Donuts by Jordan Ferguson (out now!). We rejoin our author in his thoughts on “best” vs. “most interesting” when it comes to Dilla. Donuts is not J Dilla’s best work. “Blasphemy!” you scream. “How can you say that?! You wrote an entire book on this album! You listened to it literally hundreds of times!” Yes, I did. I continue to listen to it happily. I wanted to write about it because I find it his…

Welcome to Dilla Week, in celebration of #93 in the 33 1/3 series, J Dilla’s Donuts by Jordan Ferguson (out now!). In the first of five posts, Ferguson addresses questions of authorial authority and the considerable legacy of Dilla’s life and work. How does “Jordan Ferguson” have the credentials to write this? Just curious. – Comment posted to the J Dilla Facebook page, March 13, 2014. I can’t fault the guy for asking the question. Fans are notoriously protective of J Dilla’s legacy, and had I been in his position…

In 2003, Stones Throw Records flew photographer Brian “B+” Cross out to Detroit to snap some promotional photos of J Dilla, who was then working on the Jaylib project. If you follow this sort of thing, you know these photos: the blue and orange ensemble, a pinwheel cap for the Detroit Stars, the city’s Negro League baseball team, cocked on the side of his head. Classic material. In one of these photos, Dilla’s flipping the bins at Car City Records. Now closed, Car City then was an institution in St Clair Shores on Detroit’s East side, just south of Clinton Township, where Dilla was living at the time.

10 years ago last Sunday, producer’s producer J Dilla – born James Dewitt Yancey – released his swan song, Donuts. If you’re at all plugged into the music blogosphere, you may have heard a thing or two about this anniversary. A triumph of analog and the art of sampling, Donuts has been categorized posthumously as Yancey’s masterpiece (a lofty distinction for an artist whose production credits include songs for A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde and Common). That Yancey recorded the album from a hospital bed and passed away three days after its…

To celebrate the upcoming release of the new 33 1/3 on Danger Mouse, author Charles Fairchild discusses five key dynamics responsible for The Grey Album for Danger Mouse Week. For some reason, a lot of people thought The Grey Album was the work of a rebel. The general tone of much of the response to it was that he was somehow attacking or mocking both Jay-Z and The Beatles while taking a few subversive shots at the music industry for good measure. This was especially true in academic circles where…

Hi Folks, I’ve been a bit busy reading your 410 proposals but thought I’d step back for a moment and remind you of what’s on deck. Curious what others are reading in the series? Here’s our top ten bestsellers from January 2013-January 2014. Carl Wilson for the win! Did you know that just last week we put out a NEW and EXPANDED edition of Let’s Talk About Love with essays by Nick Hornby, James Franco, Krist Novoselic, Mary Gaitskill and more? 2013 33 1/3 Series Best-Sellers* #1 Celine Dion’s Let’s…

We asked our delightful 33 1/3 Intern Danny to write about something in the music realm he felt passionate about, and he thoroughly schooled us on De La Soul. Enjoy! De La Soul is enjoying a fruitful 2014. Last month, the ever-creative Strong Island trio celebrated the 25th anniversary of their classic album 3 Feet High and Rising by making their entire catalog – including remixes, instrumentals, rare photos, and other goodies – available for free download during a swift twenty-five hour period. This month, we get two new mixtapes,…