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

A little known but influential rap genius gets his due in this spirited biography. Music journalist Charnas (The Big Payback) profiles James Dewitt Yancey (1974–2006), aka J Dilla, a rap producer—really a composer—and drum machine virtuoso who created innovative beat tracks with off-kilter rhythms and samplings that, Charnas argues, revolutionized pop music. Set against the atmospheric panorama of Detroit’s rap scene, Charnas’s probing narrative follows Dilla’s ascent through the hip-hop ranks: from getting a whirlwind of producing gigs to presiding at strip clubs, occasionally brandishing a firearm, and dying young (of a rare blood disease) at the age of 32. Charnas’s account is no hagiography: here, Dilla is a canny and sometimes generous, but prickly figure, not a Tupac-style prophet. And there are some rather moving passages, especially in scenes of Dilla’s mother, Maureen, tending to him in his decline. The book’s heart is its rich, evocative musicological analysis, complete with rhythm diagrams, of Dilla’s beats (“The hyperactive kick drum raced ahead of the samba sample, which in turn seemed to be racing ahead of the snare drum—which gave the paradoxical illusion that the snare was somehow late, making the beat feel oddly relaxed, tumbling endlessly forward”). Charnas’s engrossing work is one of the few hip-hop sagas to take the music as seriously as its maker. (Feb.)